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BV    1510    .G78    1871 


The  Sunday-school  world 


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J.V i*im/cr  ; 


THE 


Sunday-School 

WORLD: 


AN 


ENCYCLOPAEDIA   OF  FACTS  AND  PRINCIPLES,  ILLUSTRATED 

BY  ANECDOTES,  INCIDENTS,  AND  QUOTATIONS  FROM 

THE  WORKS  OF  THE  MOST  EMINENT  WRITERS 

ON 

SUNDAY-SCHOOL   MATTERS. 


Edited  by  .JAMES   COMPEE  GEAY, 

Author  of  "  Topics  for  Teachers"  etc.,  etc. 


J^merican  Edition  furnished  bij 
J.    C.    GAKRJGUES    AND    CO., 

PHILADELPHIA,  608,  ARCH   STREET. 
1871.  ' 


& 


PREFACE. 


THAT  a  work  of  the  nature  of  the  *'  Sunday -School 
World''  was  needed  by  Sunday-school  teachers,  was 
suggested  to  the  compiler  both  by  the  numerous  letters  on 
Sunday-school  matters  addressed  to  him  as  the  editor  of  a 
Sunday-school  magazine,  and  by  his  own  past  experience 
of  a  teacher's  requirements.  He  recalled  the  day  when, 
as  a  young  and  inexperienced  teacher,  he  had  to  take  his 
place  among  those  who  had  to  discuss  the  various  relations 
and  departments  of  the  school.  He  remembered  how  wild, 
and  utterly  impracticable,  many  of  his  suggestions  were ; 
and  how  equally  wild  and  impracticable  were  the  sugges- 
tions of  many  of  his  fellow-teachers.  He  could  not  forget 
how,  for  want  of  some  standard  of  appeal  on  subjects  of 
practical  importance  beyond  their  knowledge  and  expe- 
rience, many  things  were  attempted  that  had  better  have 
been  left  untouched,  many  more  were  commenced  which 
had  presently  to  be  abandoned,  much  fruitless  labour  was 
misapplied,  much  time  was  wasted,  and  much  disappoint- 
ment resulted.  As  a  consequence  many,  lacking  patience 
to  find  out  "  a  more  excellent  way,"  abandoned  the  work 
in  utter  despair,  and  some  of  these  recruited  the  ranks  of 
the  prophets  who  predicted  the  speedy  collapse  of  the 
Sunday-school  movement.  We  were  in  those  days  as 
pioneers,  who,  in  many  parts,  where  plans  and  systems 
were  unknown,  except  by  vague  and  distorting  rumours, 
had  to  make  our  own  roads,  and  clear  away  the  difficulties 
that  were  constantly,  and  to  us  always  unexpectedly,  crop- 


IV  PREFACE. 


ping  up.  With  good  tools  we  should  have  proceeded  more 
effectively,  directly,  and  rapidly.  Those  tools  were  not 
within  our  reach,  and,  as  each  new  difficulty  presented  itself, 
we  had  to  write  to  distant  friends  and  to  the  small  staff  of 
editors  of  those  days,  generally  to  get  a  reply  quite  unsuited 
to  our  need,  or  too  late  to  be  of  service,  or  needing  further 
explanations,  pending  which  we  blundered  on  through  the 
entanglements  of  our  position,  like  men  groping  in  the 
dark  to  the  light,  far,  far  away.  Those  were  days  prior  to 
the  time  of  *' hand-books,"  and  "guides,"  and  "manuals," 
and  the  like.  Of  the  few  books  bearing  on  Sunday-school 
affairs,  only  one  or  two  solitary  examples  found  their  way 
into  small  towns  and  villages  where  schools  were  likely  to 
be  started ;  and  those  two  or  three  usually  dealt  with 
departments, — more  especially  the  teacher's  work  and  cha- 
racter,— and  not  with  the  Sunday-school  as  a  whole.  Since 
that  period  of  tentative  effort,  the  very  multiplication  of 
books  has  created  another  difficulty.  The  young  teacher 
is  now  directed  to  so  many  sources  of  information  on  every 
conceivable  subject  of  enquiry,  that  he  is  likely  to  be 
bewildered  by  the  great  host  of  authorities,  if  he  be  not  also 
perplexed  by  the  cost  of  so  huge  a  library.  It  cannot  be 
expected  that  every  book  the  teacher  purchases  shall  be 
a  book  having  relation  to  the  Sunday-school.  He  has  to  be 
a  more  general  reader  to  save  himself  from  narrowness, 
and  the  charge— too  often  deserved  by  Sunday-school  men 
— of  riding  his  favourite  hobbyhorse  to  death,  and  of  airing 
his  "  peculiar  views  "  on  most  unseasonable  occasions.  At 
most,  the  Sunday-school  department  of  a  teacher's  private 
library  must  be  limited.  Having  to  take  his  share  in 
teachers'  meetings,  and  not  desiring — if  he  have  any 
laudable  ambition — to  be  always  in  the  back  ground  in 
discussion,  or  to  stop  the  way  with  mere  rudimental  sug- 
gestions and  questions,  his  library  should  certainly  include 


PREFACE. 


at  least  one  book  that  may  supply  him  with  a  bird's-eye 
view  of  the  cause  to  which  he  has  devoted  his  hand,  his 
head,  and  his  heart.  Having  to  take  part  in  some  such 
meetings ;  being  apprised  before-hand  of  the  subject  to  be 
discussed ;  having,  perhaps,  himself  to  prepare  a  paper  on 
that  subject;  he  will  naturally  like  to  fortify  his  position 
with  the  views  of  other  and  more  experienced  men,  or  note 
the  strong  points  of  those  who  may  take  different  ground 
from  himself.  That  is  one  case  that  this  book  will  in  some 
measure  meet.  Another  is  this, — already  suggested  by  the 
opening  sentences  of  this  preface, — a  number  of  warm- 
hearted and  earnest-minded  friends  have  purposed  to 
establish  a  Sunday-school.  They  wish  to  begin  in  the  right 
way,  and  put  their  school  on  a  right  basis  from  the  begin- 
ning. They  have  officers  to  elect,  the  library  to  form,  the 
funds  to  collect,  the  building  to  erect  or  arrange,  the 
scholars  to  classify,  and  the  rules  and  organisation  to  map 
out.  Not  being  proudly  self-reliant  and  conceited,  and 
being  anxious  to  economise  their  strength  and  time,  they 
wish  to  consult  what  has  been  written  on  these  and  other 
inevitable  matters.  To  their  consternation  they  find  that 
the  information  they  need  is  scattered  through  many 
volumes.  They  must  either  adopt  the  unsatisfactory 
method  of  relying  upon  their  own  judgment,  or  they  must 
purchase  a  considerable  library  of  hand-books,  &c.,  and 
then  lose  time  in  reading,  discussing,  and  selecting.  This 
book  will,  in  a  great  measure,  meet  their  case.  It  i& 
believed  also  that  ministers,  and  many  friends  outside 
the  Sunday-school,  may  here  find  many  valuable  hints  on 
both  the  practice  and  the  theory  of  this  most  important 
auxiliary  to  the  Christian  Church. 

In  preparing  such  a  book  for  his  friends  and  fellow- 
labourers,  the  compiler  had,  first  of  all,  to  collect,  and  then 
carefully   examine,  all   the   most   important   works,   both 


Tl  PREFACE. 

English  and  American,  bearing  on  those  various  depart- 
ments of  the  Sunday-school  on  which  he  believed  the 
reader  might  wish  to  be  informed.  No  name  of  any  note, 
in  the  Sunday-school  world,  has  been  intentionally  over- 
looked. Eeserving  to  himself  the  right  of  selecting  what 
he  deemed  the  best  illustrations  and  arguments  for  the 
question  in  hand,  and  in  nowise  subscribing  to  every 
opinion  transferred  to  these  pages,  he  has  endeavoured,  as 
much  as  in  him  lay,  to  deal  out  a  measure  of  equal  justice 
both  to  all  the  authorities  quoted  and  to  all  the  subjects 
treated.  While  he  trusts  he  has  taken  no  unfair  liberties 
with  the  writings  of  any,  beyond  those  usually  accorded  to 
compilers,  he  desires  especially  to  thank  those  who,  anti- 
cipating his  wish  to  give  extracts  from  their  published 
works,  wrote  to  him  immediately  on  the  appearance  of  the 
first  part  of  this  compilation—on  both  sides  the  great 
Atlantic — and,  unsolicited,  gave  him  cheerful  permission 
to  make  what  use  he  pleased  of  any  books  bearing  their 
names.  Such  a  suggestion,  given  with  so  much  grace  and 
kindness,  is  but  one  instance,  of  many,  of  the  freemasonry 
existing  among  the  advocates  and  adherents  of  the  Sunday- 
school.  The  great  desire  of  them  all  is — especially  of  those 
who  had  to  deal  with  early  discouragements  themselves — 
that  the  earnest  working  teacher,  whose  self-denying  labours, 
though  often  acknowledged,  have  never  yet  received,  and 
perhaps  never  will  in  this  world  meet  with  their  full  meed 
of  praise, — may  have  his  path  made  a  little  smoother,  his 
toil  made  less  wearisome,  and  be  fully  prepared  unto  every 
good  word  and  work.  If  this  "collection  of  facts  and 
opinions  "  should  contribute — however  slightly — to  such  a 
result,  the  compiler  will  be  abundantly  rewarded. 


\tksologio&l 


SECTION  THE  FIRST. 

PAGE 

The  Ixstitutiox 1 — i8 

History 1 

Objects 17 

Relation  to  the  Church ....  21 

Eelation  to  Pastors 26 

Eolation  to  Parents 32 

Siistentation 36 

Direct  Results .37 

Organisation 40 

Collateral  Results     .....  46 


SECTION  THE  SECOND. 

The  Superixtejtdent  and  Sec- 
retary     49 — 96 

Introductoiy 49 

Superintendent 50 

General  Qualifications  ....  53 

Special  Qualifications  '  ....  56 

Duties 65 

Discipline 74 

Relation  to  Teachers  and  Scholars  78 

Disqualifications 83 

Secretary .87 

Addenda 89 


SECTION  THE  THIRD. 

The  Teacher 97—144 

His  Relations 97 

Qualifications 102 


PAGE 

Preparation 110 

Manner  in  Class 117 

Method  in  Class 120 

Visiting 135 

A  Portrait  Galleiy 138 

A  Teacher's  Mistakes   ....  143 


SECTION  THE  FOURTH. 

The  Scholar 145—192 

Home  Relations 145 

Conversion  of  Scholars ....  148 
The  Scholar  in  Training   .     .     .  151 

Early  Piety 154 

Pious  Scholars 162 

Older  Scholars 170 

Treatment  of  Scholars  ....  173 

Awkward  Scholars 176 

Classification 184 

The  Missing  Scholar     ....  190 


SECTION  THE  FIFTH. 

The  Infant-Class    ....  193—240 

General  View 193 

Organisation 202 

The  Teacher 206 

Methods  ..." 214 

Object  Teaching 219 

Object  Lessons 229 

Pictorial  Teaching 230 

The  Blackboard 233 

Examples  of  Blackboard  Lessons  234 


Vlll 


CONTENTS. 


SECTION  THE  SIXTH. 

PAGE 
Tke  Children's  Service  .    .  2J:1 — 288 

Historical 241 

Tlae  Service  Described .  .  .  .247 
Sermons  to  Children  ....  258 
A  Change  Necessary  ....  266 
Opening  of  the  Service  ....  267 

The  Prayer 269 

Addresses  to  Children  ....  271 
Outlines  of  Services,  &c.    .     .     .  278 

SECTION  THE  SEVENTH. 

The  Library  and  Librarian  289 — 336 

The  Librarian 289 

The  Library 290 

Selecting  the  Books 301 

Library  Plans 305 

Teachers'  Private  Library      .     .  313 
Teachers'  Section  of  the  School 

Library      .......  316 

The  Young  Men's  Section  .  .319 
The  Yoimg  Women's  Section  \  322 
The  Scholars  Section  ....  322 

SECTION  THE  EIGHTH. 

Auxiliary  Agencies     .    .    .  337 — 384 
Unions  and  Institutes   ....  337 


PAGE 

Mission  Schools 340 

Visiting  and  Visitors     ....  344 
Teachers'  Improvement  Meetings  347 

Prayer  Meetings 352 

Singing  and  Music 356 

The  S.  S.  Post-office     ....  365 
Temperance  Societies   ....  366 

The  Savings'  Bank 369 

Anniversaries,  &c 370 

Foreign  Missions 374 

Extra  Meetings 379 

Senior  Classes 380 


SECTION  THE  NINTH. 

Encouragements 385 — 432 

Cxeneral  Principles 385 

Perseverance  Kewarded    .     .     .  390 

Indirect  Results 397 

Ministers  from  the  S.  S.     .     .     .398 

Defen-ed  Eesults 404 

Benefits  to  Scholars 408 

Benefits  to  Parents 414 

Sabbath-keeping  Promoted    .     .  416 

Teachers  Benefited 418 

Happy  Deaths  of  Scholars      .     .  421 
Various  Eesults 424 


;f 


I.  THE   INSTITUTION. 


HISTOEY. 

1.  Civilisation  and  OMldren. — 
Civilisation  is  traced  by  marking  tlie 
progress  of  history.  "VVe  may  read 
the  records  of  numan  life,  pro- 
foundly probing  for  the  motives  of 
men,  analysing  conventional  laws, 
rules,  and  customs,  until  at  last  we 
venture  to  say,  from  a  wide  deduc- 
tion of  particulars,  we  are  beginning 
to  learn  the  steps  of  advancement 
among  the  nations.  And  now  it  has 
come  to  be  confessed  by  the  widest 
philosophers  that  the  clearest  evi- 
dence of  a  lofty  civilisation,  for  any 
people  in  any  age  or  clime,  is  found 
in  the  provisions  which  are  made  for 
little  children.  Savages  bind  up 
their  infants  with  afflictive  thongs  of 
bark,  as  the  most  expeditious  dis- 
posal to  be  made  of  them.  Never 
till  a  land  has  leisure,  never  till  a 
nation  has  refinement,  never  till 
most  of  the  steps  upward  have  been 
taken  in  the  way  toward  exalted  at- 
tainment, does  there  come  even  one 
look  of  appreciation  or  sympathy  for 
these  "feeble  folk"  of  society  more 
than  the  merest  necessities  of  ex- 
istence, or  the  exigencies  of  conve- 
nience require.  He  who,  with  kind 
heart,  and  subtle  ingenuity  of  in- 
vention, sits  down  at  his  desk  to 
illuminate  a  juvenile  volume  with 
an  extraordinary  frontispiece,  or 
toils  at  hi^  bench  to  construct  a  me- 
chanical toy  for  a  little  child,  is  in 
one  sense  both  the  product  and  the 
type  of  the  truest  and  the  highest 


civilised  humanity. — Dr.  Eohinson 
of  Broohlyn. 

2.  Children  and  Christianity. 
— The  history  of  Sabbath-schools  is 
nearly  allied  to  the  onward  progress 
of  the  Church  of  God  in  the  earth. 
In  all  ages,  whenever  pure  religion 
has  been  revived,  it  would  seem  that 
especial  attention  has  always  been 
given  to  the  early  religious  instruc- 
tion and  training  of  children  and 
youth  by  the  Church  of  God;  and 
herein  lies  the  grand  Sunday- 
school  idea. — Pardee. 

_  3.  Origin.  —  To  trace  a  mighty  V- 
river  to  its  source  has  ever  been  con- 
sidered a  sublime  and  interesting 
employment.  It  is  pleasing  to 
ascend  its  course  from  the  point 
where  it  opens  into  the  ocean,  and 
becomes  the  inlet  of  wealth  to  an 
empire,  till  we  arrive  at  the  spot 
where  it  bubbles  up  a  spring  but 
just  sufficient  to  irrigate  the  mea- 
dows of  a  neighbouring  farm,  and 
in  descending  to  observe,  as  it  re- 
ceives the  confluence  of  tributary 
waters,  how  it  diii'uses  its  benefits 
to  the  tribes  that  dwell  upon  its 
banks.  Still  more  engaging  is  the 
task,  to  trace  the  streams  of  Chris- 
tian benevolence  to  their  source,  and 
contemplate  the  origin  of  those  in- 
stitutions which  diffuse  eternal  bless- 
ings t:0  immortal  souls.  For  what  is 
the  Nile  or  the  Niger,  the  Missouri, 
the  Euphrates,  or  the  Thames,  com- 
pared to  the  river  of  life?  The 
smallest    rivulet  which   flows  into 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


this  celestial  stream  lias  more  sub- 
limity and  importance  than  the 
mightiest  rivers  upon  earth,  and  wiU 
be  traced  with  the  deepest  interest 
upon  the  map  of  the  Redeemer's 
kingdom  millions  of  ages  after  the 
ocean  itself  shall  have  been  for  ever 
dissipated.  Justly,  therefore,  may 
it  be  accounted  an  object  worthy  our 
attention  to  trace,  by  a  rapid  sur- 
vey, the  origin,  the  progress,  and 
improvement  of  the  Sunday-school 
Institution. — J.  A.  James. 

4.  S.  S.  and  Piimitive  Church. 
— It  was  not  until  nearly  the  close 
of  the  second  century,  or,  accord- 
ing to  Tertullian,  in  the  year  a.d. 
180,  that  the  Christian  Church 
felt  compelled,  in  order  to  check 
the  defection  of  heathen  converts, 
to  set  about  the  establishment  of 
those  celebrated  ,  catechumenical 
schools,  of  which  Origen  was  one  of 
the  catechists,  for  the  systematic  re- 
ligious instruction  by  the  Church  of 
Chiist  of  the  children  and  youth. — 
Pai'dee. 

5.  S.  S.  in  Dark  Ages.  —  So 
useful  and  necessary,  however,  did 
this  work  prove  itself  to  be,  that 
very  soon  similar  schools  were  uni- 
versally established.  They  con- 
tinued to  flourish  until  near  the 
close  of  the  sixth  century,  when 
they  declined  and  became  obscured 
for  ten  long  centuries  in  the  gloom 
of  the  Dark  Ages,  with  only  an  oc- 
casional prince,  or  pastor,  or  layman, 
in  the  spirit  of  the  Master,  to  teach 
the  children  the  way  of  life. — Ibid. 

6.  Luther's  S.  S.  —  In  the  six- 
teenth century,  however,  on  the  dawn 
of  the  Reformation,  Martin.  Luther 
established  his  celebrated  Sunday- 
schools  at  Wittembm-g  in  the  year 
1527 ;  and  soon  after  John  Knox 
inaugurated  the  Sunday-schools  of 
Scotland,  "with  readers,"  as  the 
history  of  Scotland  informs  us,  in 
1560 ;  so  that  on  the   incoming  of 


the  Reformation  the  children  were 
again  "  taught  of  the  Lord." — Ibid. 

7.  Borromeo. — In  the  year  1580, 
Borromeo,  the  pious  Archbishop  of 
Milan,  established  a  system  of  Sun- 
day-schools throughout  his  large 
diocese  in  Lombardy. — Ibid. 


8. 


The   originator  of  Sun- 


day-schools appears  to  have  been  St. 
Charles  Borromeo,  Cardinal  and 
Archbishop  of  Milan,  and  nephew  of 
Pope  Pius  lY.  He  died  in  the  year 
1584,  at  the  early  age  of  forty-six, 
of  a  violent  fever  caught  in  the 
neighbouring  mountains. —  Watson. 

9,  -"—  Many  of  his  (Borro- 
meo's)  excellent  institutions  still 
remain,  and  amongst  others,  that  of 
Sunday-schools;  and  it  is  both 
novel  and  affecting  to  behold  on  that 
day  (Sunday)  the  vast  area  of  the 
cathedral  filled  with  children,  form- 
ing two  grand  divisions  of  boys  and 
girls,  ranged  opposite  each  other, 
and  then  again  subdivided  into 
classes  according  to  their  age  and 
capacities,  drawn  up  between  the 
pillars,  while  two  or  more  instruc- 
tors attend  each  class,  and  direct 
their  questions  and  explanations  to 
every  little  individual  without  dis- 
tinction. A  clergyman  attends  each 
class,  accompanied  by  one  or  more 
laymen  for  the  boys,  and  for  the 
gii'ls  by  as  many  matrons.  The  lay 
persons  are  said  to  be  oftentimes  of 
the  first  distinction.  Tables  are 
placed  in  different  recesses  for  writ- 
ing. This  admirable  practice,  so 
beneficial  and  so  edifying,  is  not 
confined  to  the  cathedral,  or  even  to 
Milan.  The  pious  Archbishop  ex- 
tended it  to  every  part  of  liis  im- 
mense diocese,  and  it  is  observed  in 
all  the  parochial  churches  of  the 
Milanese,  and  of  the  neighboui'ing 
dioceses,  of  such  at  least  as  are  suf- 
fragans of  Milan." — Rev.  J.  C. 
Hustace,  *'  Classical  Tour,''^ 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOKLD. 


10.  A  more  recent  traveller 

(Rev.  J.  Stougliton,  "  Scenes  in 
Many  Lands,  with  their  Associa- 
tions,") says,  that  he  was  very 
anxious  to  ascertain  whether  the 
same  practices  still  prevailed: 
* '  They  do ;  and  not  only  did  we  see 
the  classes  assembled  in  the  churches, 
but  in  one  or  two  cases  there  were 
school-rooms  with  forms  placed,  and 
the  children  gathering  so  completely 
a  V Anglais,  that  a  Ohiistian  friend 
and  Sabbath-school  teacher,  who  ac- 
companied me,  observed,  he  could 
fancy  himself  at  home,  about  to 
enter  on  his  accustomed  toils." 


11 


These  schools  are  held 


from  two  to  four  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon, and  are  closed  by  the  pastor 
with  a  catechetical  discourse.  The 
books  used  contain  an  explanation 
of  the  creed,  the  commandments,  the 
Lord's  prayer,  and  the  sacraments, 
and  have  sometimes  annexed  an  ac- 
count of  the  festivals,  fasts,  and 
public  ceremonies.  Had  these  insti- 
tutions extended  beyond  Milan  and 
its  neighbourhood  into  other  coun- 
tries, Borromeo  might  have  been 
justly  considered  the  founder  of  the 
Sunday-school  system.  This  was 
not  the  case.  His  example  was  not 
followed  beyond  the  immediate  circle 
in  which  it  had  arisen;  and  the 
Sunday  afternoon  catechetical  exer- 
cises in  the  Romish  or  in  the  Protes- 
tant Church  cannot  be  at  al]  identi- 
fied with  the  modern  Sunday-school. 
—  Watson. 

12.  Hacker's  S.  S.~The  first 
"  Sabbath- school"  was  founded  by 
Ludwig  Hacker,  between  the  years 
1740  and  1747,  at  Euphrata,  I^an- 
caster  county,  Pennsylvania,  among 
the  German  Seventh-day  Baptists 
there.  The  school-room  was  used 
m  an  hospital,  after  the  battle  of 
Brandywine,  fought  in  1777.  This 
event  occasioned  the  breaking  up  of 
the  schools  about  five  years  before 


the  first  S.  S.  was  instituted  in 
England,  at  Gloucester,  by  Robert 
Raikes,  about  1782. — Hadyn^s  Diet, 
of  Dates  (see  65). 

13.  Early  S.  Ss.— It  has  been 
repeatedly  asserted  that  Sunday- 
schools  existed  in  Scotland  long 
before  the  time  of  Raikes.  "The 
Sabbath-school  Messenger,"  an  ex- 
cellent pictorial  monthly,  published 
in  Glasgow,  made  the  following 
statement  in  one  of  its  numbers  for 
1860: — "  The  successor  of  the  cele- 
brated Boston  (of  Ettrick),  Mr. 
David  Lambert,  is  said  to  have 
taught  a  Sabbath-school  in  Ber- 
wickshire, highly  spoken  of  for  its 
blessed  efiects,  so  early  as  1710. 
The  late  Rev.  Dr.  Burns,  of  the 
Barony  Parish,  Glasgow,  in  a  letter 
to  Dr.  John  Brown,  dated  May  12th, 
1826,  says : — .'  I  remember  that,  in 
1782,  the  Sabbath-schools  in  Glas- 
gow and  in  the  Barony  parish  were 
established,  and  I  beheve  that  they 
were  begun  before  we  received  in- 
formation of  what  was  done  by 
Raikes.  I  know  I  regularly  at- 
tended those  in  the  Calton  in  1782.' 
Other  godly  elders  and  ministers 
have  been  mentioned  as  being  in 
the  habit  of  gathering  the  children 
together  on  Sabbath  evenings,  and 
examining  them  as  to  their  know- 
ledge of  the  catechism  many  years 
before  the  above  date."  There  were 
efibrts  made  in  Wales  also  about 
the  same  period.  In  the  year  1784 
Asbury  was  moving  for  the  establish- 
ment of  Sunday-schools  in  America. 
—Dr.  Steel. 

14.  Alleine  and  others. — There 
have  been  indi^dduals  occasionally 
gathering  together  young  persons 
for  religous  instruction  on  the  Lord's 
day.  This  was  done  by  the  Rev. 
Jos.  Alleine,  author  of  the  "Alarm 
to  the  Unconverted,"  in  1688 ;  by 
Theophilus  Lindsey,  of  Catterick,  in 
1763 ;  by  Miss  Harrison,  at  Bedale, 
2 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WORLD. 


in  1765 ;  and  by  Miss  Ball,  at  Higli 
Wycombe,  in  1769 ;  and  probably 
by  many  others  whose  names  have 
not  been  recorded. —  Union  Mag. 
1856. 

15.  Isolated  efforts.  But  all  these 
were  isolated  efforts ;  the  intiuence 
of  which  ceased  with  the  removal  of 
the  parties  originating  them.  About 
the  year  1780,  the  idea  of  thus  be- 
nefiting the  rising  generation  appears 
to  have  occurred  to  individuals  re- 
siding in  different  localities. — S.  S. 
Teachers'  Mag,,  1842. 

16.  Present,  independent  of  past. 
— But  it  would  be  incorrect  to  assign 
the  origination  of  the  present  Sun- 
day-school system  to  any  of  these 
praiseworthy  efforts.  Had  not  Divine 
Providence  raised  up  some  other  in- 
strumentality, the  work  would  not 
have  been  done.  They,  however, 
prove  in  what  direction  the  minds 
of  Christian  men  were  turning,  and 
they  prepared  the  way  for  the  appa- 
rently accidental  occurrence  which 
was  to  commence  the  systematic  and 
general  instruction  of  the  young  on 
the  Lord's  day. —  Watson. 

17.  Eaikes. — In  the  year  1781, 
a  gentleman  in  Gloucester  wanted 
the  services  of  a  gardener,  and,  for 
the  purpose  of  hiring  one,  went  to 
that  part  of  the  city  where  the 
humblest  of  the  people  dwelt.  The 
person  he  was  in  quest  of  was  not 
at  home  ;  but  he  awaited  his  return. 
During  this  interval  he  was  greatly 
disturbed  by  the  crowds  of  noisy 
boys  around  him.  He  inquired 
whether  they  belonged  to  the  town, 
and  bewailed  their  misery  and  idle- 
ness. "  Ah,  sir,"  said  the  woman 
to  whom  he  spake,  *'  could  you  take 
a  view  of  this  part  of  the  town  on 
Sunday,  you  would  be  shocked  in- 
deed ;  for  then  the  street  is  filled 
with  multitudes  of  these  wretches, 
who,  released  on  that  day  from  em- 
ployment, spend  their  time  in  noise 


and  riot,  playing  at  chuck,  and 
cursing  and  swearing  in  a  manner 
so  horrid,  as  to  convey  to  any  serious 
mind  an  idea  of  hell,  rather  than 
any  other  place."  The  picture  thus 
\dvidly  drawn  impressed  the  mind  of 
the  benevolent  man,  and  that  spot 
became  to  him,  to  England,  and  to 
the  Christian  world,  more  worthy  of 
note,  and  associated  with  more 
blissful  memories,  than  most  of  the 
places  that  history  has  stamped  with 
fame.  It  was  there  that  Robert 
Eaikes  conceived  the  idea  of  Sabbath 
schools.  It  was  there  that  the  word 
**try"  came  into  his  mind,  and 
gave  energy  to  his  philanthropic 
thought.  ''  I  can  never  pass  by  the 
spot,"  said  he,  many  years  after- 
wards, to  Joseph  Lancaster,  ' '  where 
the  word  '  try  '  came  so  powerfully 
into  my  mind,  without  lifting  up  my 
hands  and  heart  to  heaven  in  grati- 
tude to  God  for  having  put  such  a 
thought  into  my  head."  Nor  can 
the  Christian  teacher,  or  any  whom 
his  labours  of  love  have  blessed, 
think  of  the  city  where  Hooper  died 
a  martyr,  and  where  Whitefield  was 
born,  without  connecting  with  it  the 
fact  that  there  Eobert  Eaikes  began 
a  work  which  has  extended  its  in- 
liuence  far  and  wide,  and  multiplied 
its  agents  a  million  fold. — Dr.  Steel. 

18.  Eaikes'  S.  S.— The  utility  of 
an  establishment  of  this  sort  was 
first  suggested  by  a  group  of  little 
miserable  wretches,  whom  I  ob- 
served one  day  in  the  street,  where 
many  people  employed  in  the  pin 
manufactory  reside.  I  was  express- 
ing my  concern  to  one,  at  their  for- 
lorn and  neglected  state,  and  was 
told  that  if  I  were  to  pass  through 
that  street  on  Sundays,  it  would 
shock  me  indeed,  to  see  the  crowds 
of  children  who  were  spending  that 
sacred  day  in  noise  and  riot,  to  the 
extreme  annoyance  of  all  decent 
people.  Immediately  determined  to 
make  some  effort  to  remedy  the  evil. 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


Having  found  four  persons  who  had 
been  accustomed  to  instruct  children 
in  reading,  I  engaged  to  pay  the 
sum  required  for  receiving  and  in- 
structing such  children  as  I  should 
send  to  them  every  Sunday.  The 
children  were  to  come  soon  after  ten 
in  the  morning,  and  stay  till  twelve ; 
they  were  then  to  go  home  and  re- 
turn at  one  ;  and  after  reading  a 
lesson  that  were  to  be  conducted  to 
church.  After  church  they  were  to 
be  employed  in  reading  the  cate- 
chism till  after  five,  and  then  to  be 
dismissed,  Avdth  an  injunction  to  go 
home  without  making  a  noise,  and 
by  no  means  to  play  in  the  street. 
This  was  the  general  outline  of  the 
regulations. — Raikes, 

19.  Contrast  with  present  S.  S. 
— Such  was  the  humble  commence- 
ment of  the  Sunday-school  system. 
The  contrast  between  the  school  just 
described,  and  a  well-conducted 
school  of  the  present  day,  is  so  great, 
that  the  resemblance  can  scarcely  be 
perceived.  We  look  in  vain  for  the 
infant  class,  designed  to  convey  even 
to  babes  the  elements  of  religious 
knowledge  ;  we  fear  there  could  not 
be  any  systematic  insti'uction  in  the 
Scriptures  imparted  to  the  children 
more  advanced  in  age ;  much  less 
should  we  expect  to  find,  in  these 
early  efforts,  any  provision  for  the 
instruction  of  youths  growing  up 
into  manhood.  The  pious  and  en- 
lightened superintendent  and  secre- 
tary, with  their  devoted  band  of 
voluntary  and  gratuitous  teachers, 
were  also  wanting ;  nor  would  the 
most  diligent  inquiry  have  dis- 
covered a  lending  library  attached 
to  any  of  these  schools,  for  the  use 
of  the  scholars  during  the  week. —  ' 
W  atson. 

20.  Two    Tears'    Progress. — 
Two    years    had    scarcely  elapsed, 
when  Eobert   Raikes   invited   some  i 
fiiends  to  breakfast ;  the  window  of  | 


the  room  where  they  were  seated 
opening  into  a  small  garden,  and 
there  were  beheld,  sitting  on  seats, 
one  row  above  another,  the  children 
of  the  first  Sunday-school,  neatly 
dressed.  They  were  pui-posely  ex- 
hibited to  the  breakfast  partj^  to 
interest  them  in  the  design,  but  so 
little  were  the  momentous  conse- 
quences then  appreciated,  that  a 
Una-ker  lady  rebuked  Mr.  Raikes  in 
these  words,  *'  Friend  Raikes,  when 
thou  doest  charitably,  thy  right 
hand  should  not  know  what  thy  left 
hand  doeth."  The  fair  (Quaker 
might  have  forgotten  that  there  is 
another  text,  which  says,  '*  Let 
your  light  so  shine  before  men,  that 
they  may  see  your  good  works,  and 
glorify  your  Father,  which  is  in 
heaven." — S.  S.  Teachers'  3Iag.^ 
1841. 

21.  Pirst  Results.— Still  the 
effect  produced  by  these  efforts  was 
considerable.  Mr.  Raikes  states,  in 
a  letter  to  Colonel  Townley,  a  gen- 
tleman in  Lancashire,  who  had  made 
inquiries  relative  to  these  new  insti- 
tutions—"  It  is  now  three  years 
since  we  began;  and  I  wish  you 
were  here,  to  make  inquiry  into  the 
effect.  A  woman  who  lives  in  a 
lane  where  1  had  fixed  a  school,  told 
me,  some  time  ago,  that  the  place 
was  quite  a  heaven  upon  Sundays, 
compared  to  what  it  used  to  be.  The 
numbers  who  have  learned  to  read, 
and  say  their  catechism,  are  so  great 
that  I  am  astonished  at  it.  Upon 
the  Sunday  afternoon  the  mistresses 
take  their  scholars  to  chiu'ch,— a 
place  into  which  neither  they  nor 
their  ancestors  ever  entered  with  a 
view  to  the  glory  of  God.  But 
what  is  more  extraordinary,  within 
this  month  these  little  ragamuffins 
have  in  great  numbers  taken  it  into 
their  heads  to  frequent  the  early 
morning  prayers  which  are  held 
every  morning  at  the  cathedral,  at 


6 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


seven  o'clock.  I  believe  there  were 
near  fifty  this  morning.  They 
assemble  at  the  house  of  one  of  the 
mistresses,  and  walk  before  her  to 
church,  two  and  two,  in  as  much 
order  as  a  company  of  soldiers." — 
Raikes  to  Col.  Townley. 

22.  After  Three  Tears.— For 
three  years  the  Sunday-schools  gra- 
dually extended  in  Mr.  Raikes? 
neighbourhood,  to  which  they  were 
then  confined,  and  several  clergy- 
men contributed  to  the  success  of 
the  scheme  by  their  personal  atten- 
tions. The  position  of  Mr.  E-aikes, 
as  proprietor  and  printer  of  the 
"  Gloucester  Journal,"  enabled  him 
to  make  public  this  new  scheme  of 
benevolence ;  and  a  notice  inserted 
in  that  paper,  on  Nov.  3,  1783,  hav- 
"ing  been  copied  into  the  London 
papers,  attention  was  soon  drawn  to 
the  subject.  The  application  we 
have  referred  to  from  Colonel  Town- 
ley  was  one  of  the  results ;  and,  at 
his  request,  the  letter  of  Mr.  Raikes 
in  answer,  from  which  we  have 
made  an  extract,  was  inserted  in  the 
*'  Gentleman's  Magazine"  for  1784. 
Thus  the  idea  of  Sunday-schools  was 
widely  diffused,  and  several  were 
opened  in  various  parts  of  the  king- 

'  dom. —  Watson. 

23.  Eaikes  and  the  Queen. — In 
the  autograph  collection  of  Mr. 
Charles  Eeed,  M.P.,  F.S.A,  there  is 
a  letter  of  Eobert  Eaikes  to  the  Eev. 
Mr.  Bowen  Thickens,  Eoss,  Here- 
fordshire, dated  June,  27th,  1788, 
in  which  he  says — "  At  Windsor 
the  ladies  of  fashion  pass  their  Sun- 
days in  teaching  the  poorest  children. 
The  Q/Ueen  sent  for  me  the  other  day 
to  give  Her  Majesty  an  account  of 
the  effect  observable  on  the  manners 
of  the  poor,  and  Her  Majesty  most 
graciously  said  that  she  envied  those 
who  had  the  power  of  doing  good  by 
thus  personally  promoting  the  wel- 
fare of  society  in  giving  instruction 


and  morals  to  the  general  mass  of 
the  people ;  a  pleasure  from  which, 
by  her  situation,  she  was  debarred." 

24.  Death  of  Eaikes. — Mr.  Eaikes 
was  permitted  by  Divine  Providence 
to  witness  the  extension  of  the  benefits 
of  Sunday-school  instruction  to  an 
extent  far  beyond  anything  he  could 
have  contemplated,  his  life  having 
been  preserved  until  April  5th, 
1811,  when  he  died  in  his  native 
city  of  Gloucester,  without  any 
previous  indisposition,  and  in  his 
seventy-sixth  year.  He  was  buried 
in  the  church  of  St.  Mary  de  Crypt, 
where  the  following  tablet  is  erected 
to  his  memory : 

SACRED  TO  THE  MEMORY 

OP 

EOBEET    EAIKES,    ESQ., 

LATE  OF  THIS  CITY, 

FOTJNDER  or  STJjSTDAY-SCHOOLS, 

WHO  DEPARTED  THIS  LIFE 

APRIL    5th,  1811.  AGED  SEVENTY-FIVE  YEARS. 

"  When  the  ear  heard  him,  then  it  blessed 
Him,  and  when  the  eye  saw  him  it  gave  wit- 
ness to  him.  Because  he  delivered  the  poor 
that  cried,  and  the  fatherless,  and  him  that 
had  none  to  help  him.  The  blessing  of  Him 
that  was  ready  to  perish  came  upon  him,  and 
He  caused  the  widow's  heart  to  sing  for  joy." 
Job  xxix.  11, 12, 13. — Watson. 


25. 


To  the  last  moment  of 


time,  and  through  every  age  of 
eternity,  Eobert  Eaikes  will  be 
venerated  as  the  father  and  founder 
of  Sunday-schools,  or  at  least  to  the 
person  who  made  them  known  to 
the  public.  This  illustrious  indi- 
vidual was  a  native  of  Gloucester, 
and  born  in  the  year  1735. — J.  A. 
James. 

26.  Pirst  Teachers,  Hired. — 
The  schools  were  at  first  universally 
conducted  by  hired  teachers.  This 
entailed  a  load  of  pecuniary  diffi- 
culty upon  the  plan,  which,  had  it 
not  been  removed,  must  have  con- 
siderably retarded  its  progress,  and 
consequently  diminished  its  useful- 
ness.     The  Sunday-school  Society 


STINDAT    SCHOOL   WOELD. 


alone  expended  during  the  sixteen 
first  years  of  its  existence,  no  less 
than  four  thousand  pounds  in  the 
salaries  of  teachers. — J.  A.  James. 


27. 


The   great  impediment 


to  the  prosperity  of  these  new  insti 
tutions  was  the  expense  of  hiring 
teachers.  It  appears  that  fi'om, 
1786  to  1800,  the  Sunday-school 
Society  alone  paid  upwards  of 
£4,00b  for  this  purpose.  At  Stock- 
port, in  1784,  the  teachers  were  paid 
Is.  6d.  every  Sunday  for  their  ser- 
vices ;  but  by  degrees  gratuitous 
teachers  arose  ;  so  that,  in  1794,  out 
of  nearly  thirty,  six  only  were 
hired;  the  rest  voluntarily  put 
themselves  under  the  dii'ection  of 
the  visitors.  The  beneficial  effects 
were  soon  apparent ;  and  from  that 
time  the  number  of  scholars  and 
teachers,  and  the  amount  of  sub- 
scriptions, regularly  increased.  In  a 
few  years  hired  teachers  were  wholly 
relinquished  in  the  Stockport  school. 
—  Watson. 


flourishing  state  of  these  institutions, 
and  of  all  that  future  additional  in- 
crease which  may  be  reasonably 
anticipated." 


30. 


To  remunerate  the  pre- 


28. 


And  this  was  not  the 


least  evil  attending  upon  purchased 
labour.  Hireling  teachers  can 
scarcely  be  expected  to  possess  either 
the  zeal  or  ability  of  those  who  now 
engage  in  the  work  from  motives  of 
pure  benevolence.  Gratuitous  in- 
struction was  an  astonishing  im- 
provement of  the  system,  though  it 
does  not  appear  to  have  entered  into 
the  views  of  its  benevolent  author. 
— J.  A.  James. 

29.  Voluntary  Teachers. — "If 
we  were  asked,"  says  a  writer  in  the 
"  Sunday-school  Repository,"  "whose 
name  stood  next  to  that  of  Robert 
Raikes  in  the  annals  of  Sunday- 
schools,  we  should  say,  the  person 
who  first  came  forward,  and  volun- 
tarily proffered  his  exertions,  his 
time,  and  his  talents,  to  the  instruc- 
tion of  the  young  and  the  poor ; 
since  an  imitation  of  his  example  has 
been  the  great  cause  of  the  present 


sent  number  of  teachers,  at  the  rate 
paid  to  those  in  the  Stockport  school, 
of  Is.  6d.  each  Sunday,  would  amount 
if  the  number  of  teachers  be  estimated 
at  300,000  to  nearly  £1,200,000  per 
annum. —  Census  Report  1851,  Edu- 
cation. 

31.  This  system  was   gra- 
dually relinquished    for    a    better, 
more   likely  to   engage   the   ardour 
and  piety  of  the   Chuix-h,    and    to 
secure  the  Divine  blessing.     Volun- 
tary teaching  in  the  Sabbath-school 
had   also  its  origin    in   Grloucester. 
Other  places  may  contend   for  thfe 
honour  of  this  benevolence ;  for  in 
moral  expedients,  as  in  mechanical, 
there   seems  to   be   a   simultaneous 
moving  of  minds  to  some  grand  dis- 
covery which  blesses  the  world.     In 
the  city  of  Raikes,  however,  so  early 
as  1810,  six  young  men  commenced 
:  voluntary  teaching  on  the  Lord's  day. 
j  They  had  discouragement  from  mini- 
I  sters,  oflQ.ce-bearers,  and  church  mem- 
bers, to  bear ;  but  they  were  not  dis- 
I  suaded  from  their  pious  design.   They 
I  couldonlycollectfiJfteen  shillings  from 
their  personal  resources ;  but  they  did 
!  iLot    faint.     ' '  They    met    around   a 
I  post  at  the  corner  of  a  lane,  within 
j  twenty    yards    of    the    spot   where 
I  Hooper  was  martyred,    and  there, 
taking  each  other  by  the  hand,  they 
solemnly  resolved  that,   come  what 
would,  Sunday-schools  should  be  re- 
established in  the  city  of  Gloucester." 
Few  may  know  the  names  of  these 
devoted  youths ;  but  they  have  thair 
memorial  where  all  the  ransomed, 
who  have  been  taught  in  Sabbath- 
schools,  shall  yet  attest  the  blessed- 
ness of  their  work,  and  enhance  the 
glory    of   their    recompense.  —  Dr» 
Steel 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


32. 


At  what  precise  period 


this  was  first  introduced,  does  not 
appear,  or  where  it  commenced ;  so 
that  the  award  of  this  second  honour 
is  reserved  for  the  decision  of  the 
last  day.  About  the  year  1800  the 
plan  became  very  general  through- 
out the  kingdom. — J,  A.  James. 


33. 


Of  the  six  young  men 


referred  to  in  paragraph  No.  31,  the 
Rev.  J.  Adey,  Independent  minister, 
of  Bexley-heath,  Kent,  is  the  only 
survivor.  A  letter  received  from 
Mr.  Adey  informs  us  that,  of  the 
others,  two  died  young,  another  last 
year  (1868).  The  others  have  been 
lost  sight  oi.—Ed.  of  S.  S.  World. 

34.  Last  Eelics  of  the  Old 
System. — The  day  of  hired  teachers 
has  not,  in  some  parts  at  least,  quite 
passed  away;  though  their  employ- 
ment, as  will  appear  from  the  follow- 
ing statement,  is  not  attended  by  a 
very  marked  success.  "  Not  more 
than  fourteen  miles  from  the  great 
and  busy  town  of  Birmingham, 
there  is  a  parish  containing  a  popu- 
lation of  20,000  persons,  in  which 
there  is  a  large  and  flourishing  na- 
tional school  of  400  scholars  while 
the  Sunday-schools  in  connection 
therewith  does  not  contain  more 
than  sixty  children.  A  siqjerin- 
tendent,  loho  is  paid  for  his  services, 
and  teachers,  ivho  each  receive  one 
shilling  per  day,  are  engaged,  they 
have  but  little  success  in  their  work, 
whUe  the  voluntary  and  earnest  zeal 
of  their  Dissenting  brethren  crowd 
with  scholars  many  neighbouring 
schools. — The  Sunday -schoolTeacher^ 
1868. 

35.  Want  of  Union.— Still  there 
was  one  thing  wanting  to  raise  the 
system  to  the  highest  degree  of 
efficiency,  and  that  is  union.  In 
every  possible  application  of  the  sen- 
timent, union  is  power.  Reasoning 
upon  the  general   principle,   many 


were  led  to  conclude,  that  great 
benefits  would  result  to  this  parti- 
cular case,  from  an  association  of 
counsel  and  energy. — /.  A.  James. 

36.  S.  S.  Society On  the  7th 

September,  1785,  Mr.  Fox  suc- 
ceeded in  forming  the ' '  Society  for  the 
Establishment  and  Support  of  Sun- 
day Schools  throughout  the  Kingdom 
of  Great  Britain."  Mr.  Jonas  Han- 
way,  Mr.  Hemy  Thornton,  and  Mr. 
Samuel  Hoare,  who  became  treasurer, 
co-operated  in  the  formation  of  this 
new  institution  ;  and  it  immediately 
received  considerable  encouragement 
and  support.  In  the  first  report  of 
the  committee,  in  January,  1786, 
they  stated  that  they  had  established 
five  schools  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
London,  and  had  received  subscrip- 
tions to  the  amount  of  £987  Os.  6d. 
At  the  meeting  at  which  this  report 
was  presented,  letters  approving  the 
object  of  the  Society  were  read  from 
the  Bishops  of  Salisbury  and  LlandafF. 
The  Bishop  of  Chester  (Dr.  Porteus) 
also  recommended  the  formation  of 
Sunday  schools  in  his  extensive 
diocese.  The  poet  Cowper,  in  a 
letter  to  the  Rev.  John  Newton,  dated 
September  24th,  1784,  and  the  Rev. 
J.  Wesley,  in  a  letter  to  the  Rev. 
Richard  Rodda,  Chester,  dated  June 
r7th,  1785,  also  stated  their  convic- 
tion of  the  benefits  to  be  expected 
from  these  schools. —  Watson. 

37.  rirst  London  S.  S.— It  is  re- 
corded of  the  R,ev.  Rowland  HUl, 
who  opened  the  first  Sunday-school 
in  London,  that  "  he  was  accustomed 
to  give  away  boxes  of  letters  which 
he  had  prepared  for  the  young,  who, 
by  selecting  the  letters  which  compose 
the  words  of  a  sentence,  may  be 
taught  to  read  and  spell  at  the  same 
time."— ie/e  of  Hill,  1844. 

38.  Under  his  (Rev.  Row- 
land Hill's)  auspices  the  first  Sun- 
day-school in  the  metropolis  was 
established.     There  are  no  records 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WORLD. 


9 


in  existence  to  show  the  exact  time 
of  its  opening,  but  it  was  probablv 
about  1784,  for  in  1827,  at  a  meeting 
of  the  old  scholars  who  had  been 
educated  in  the  school,  an  elderly 
female  stated  that  her  first  serious 
impressions  were  received  in  the 
school  about  forty -two  years  previous 
to  that  period. — Jones's  Life  of  R. 
Hill. 

39.  Increase  in  London  —  The 
establishment  of  the  school  at  the 
Surrey  Chapel  was  followed  by  the 
opening  of  a  second  at  Hoxton  by 
Mr.  Kemp,  and  gradually  the  system 
spread  through  the  metropolis. — 
Watson. 

40.  Origin  of  London  S.  S.  Union. 
— On  the  removal  of  Mr.  Gurney 
into  London,  early  in  1803,  his 
house  became  the  place  of  meeting 
for  several  active  Sunday-school 
teachers,  amongst  them  were  Messrs. 
Beams,  15urcJQ.ett,  Niven,  Weare,  &c.; 
and  at  one  of  these  meetings  the 
subject  of  inducing  the  teachers  in 
London  to  unite  for  mutual  en- 
couragement and  support,  and  with 
a  view  to  the  extension  and  improve- 
ment of  Sunday-schools,  was  made  a 
matter  of  conversation  ;  and  its 
practicability  and  desirableness  be- 
coming apparent,  it  was  determined 
to  call  a  meeting  to  consider  the 
subject  more  at  large,  and  adopt 
measures  for  carrying  it  into  exe- 
cution. Accordingly,  a  numerous 
meeting  was  assembled  on  the  13th 
July,  1803,  at  Surrey  Chapel  School- 
rooms, where  in  1799  the  meeting 
had  taken  place,  which  resulted  in 
the  formation  of  the  Religious  Tract 
Society,  and  the  Sunday  School  Union 
was  then  established. —  Watson. 

41.  Its  Objects. — "  The  object  of 
this  Union  shall  be — First,  to  stimu- 
late and  encourage  Sunday-school 
teachers  at  home  and  abroad  to 
greater  exertions  in  the  promotion 
of  religious  education.     Secondly,  by 


mutual  communication  to  improve 
the  methods  of  instruction.  Thirdly, 
to  ascertain  those  situations  where 
Sunday-schools  are  most  needed, 
and  promote  their  establishment. 
Fourthly,  to  supply  the  books  and 
stationery  suited  for  Sunday-schools, 
at  reduced  prices.  In  carrying  these 
objects  into  effect  the  Society  shall 
not  in  any  way  interfere  with  the 
private  concerns  of  Sunday-schools." 
— S.  S.  Union  Report. 

42.  Its  Members. — ''This  Union 
shall  consist  of  the  ministers  and 
teachers  of  those  Sunday-schools  in 
London  and  its  suburbs  whose  con- 
ductors hold  the  doctrine  of  the 
Deity  and  Atonement  of  Jesus  Christ, 
the  Divine  influence  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  and  that  all  Scripture  is  given 
by  inspiration  of  God,  and  who  have 
subscribed  during  the  preceding 
year,  ending  March  31st,  to  either 
of  the  Metropolitan  Auxiliaries  not 
less  than  os.  per  annum,  together 
with  individual  subscribers  to  this 
Union  of  a  like  amount.  A  dona- 
tion of  ten  guineas  at  one  time  shall 
constitute  the  donar  a  member  for 
life." — Report  of  S.  S.  Union. 

43.  First  Public  Meeting. — The 
first  resolution  at  the  fii'st  public 
meeting  of  the  London  S.  S.  Union 
(held  in  the  jS'ew  London  Tavern, 
Cheapside  on  May  13th,  1812,  i.e. 
nearly  nine  years  after  the  Union  was 
formed)  was  moved  by  Mr.  T.  H. 
Home,  author  of  the  "Introduction 
to  the  Critical  Study  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures";  and  seconded  by  the 
Eev.  Legh  Richmond,  the  author  of 
"The  Dairyman's  Daughter."— ^c?. 
ofS.  S.  World. 

44.  The  Stockport  S.  S.— On 
June  loth,  1805,  the  foundation 
stone  of  the  Stockport  Sunday-school 
was  laid.  The  building  cost  nearly 
£G,000  in  its  erection,  and  was 
designed  to  accommodate  5,000 
scholars,  being  132  feet  in  length, 


10 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOBLD. 


and  57  in  width.  The  ground  floor 
and  first  story  are  each  divided  into 
12  rooms ;  the  second  story  is  fitted 
up  for  assembling  the  whole  of  the 
children  for  public  worship,  or  on 
other  occasions ;  having  two  tiers 
of  windows,  and  a  gallery  on  each 
side  extending  about  half  the  length 
of  the  building.  In  order  to  aid 
both  the  hearing  and  sight  in  this 
long  room,  the  floor  rises  in  an  in- 
clined plane  about  half  way.  There 
is  also  an  orchestra  with  an  organ 
behind  the  pulpit. — S.  S.  Repository^ 
1831. 

45.  The    Stoclq)ort    S.    S. 

which  is  the  largest  in  the  world, 
consists  of  the  parent  school  and  four 
branches.  In  the  parent  school  are 
4,136  scholars  (e.e.,  2,116  boys,  and 
2,020  girls)  and  309  teachers  (e.  e., 
175  male  and  134  female).  The  four- 
branches  contain  1,190  scholars  (i.  e., 
525  boys,  and  565  girls)  and  115 
teachers  (i.  e.,  70  male  and  45  female). 
Total  scholars  in  parent  and  branch 
schools  5,226,  teachers  ^2'i.— Report 
of  StocJqjort  S.  S.  1868. 

46.  Provincial  Unions. — The  ex- 
ample of  the  teachers  of  London  in 
associating  for  mutual  encourage- 
ment and  support,  was  followed  in 
1810,  by  the  teachers  of  Nottingham 
and  Hampshire  ;  and  since  that  time, 
similar  Unions  have  been  formed  in 
various  parts  of  this  country,  as  well 
as  in  foreign  lands,  with  the  most 
beneficial  results. —  Watson. 

47.  Present  State  of  S.  Ss.— 
We  find  that  comparing  the  num- 
ber of  Sunday-school  scholars-  in 
Church  of  England  schools,  in  1866-7 
with  those  in  1856-7  in  the  following 
sixteen  English  counties — Bedford, 
Berks,  Bucks,  Cambridge,  Chester, 
Cumberland,  Dorset,  Hants,  Herts, 
Hunts,  Lancaster,  Northumberland, 
Oxford,  Rutland,  Somerset,  and  Staf- 
ford,— that  in  twelve  out  of  the^ixteen 
the  number  had  actually  diminished, 


and  that  to  a  considerable  amount, 
there  being,  in  1866-7,  14,787  fewer 
scholars  than  in  1856-7.  Nor  is  this 
all  the  case  ;  for,  tried  by  the  rela- 
tive increase  in  the  scholars  attending 
other  schools,  the  amount  of  the  loss 
in  this  one  department  of  our  school 
system  is  shown  to  be  even  greater 
than  would  be  indicated  by  a  com- 
parison of  the  actual  numbers.  For 
in  the  same  period  of  ten  years, 
the  day  scholars  in  the  Church  of 
England  schools,  in  the  same  twelve 
counties,  had  increased  from  216,926 
to  242,387,  that  is,  by  25,461; 
whilst  in  the  night  schools  the 
increase  had  been  still  more  re- 
markable, being  from  11,081  in 
1856-7,  to  32,688  in  1866-7,  that  is, 
an  increase  of  21,607.  It  is  probable 
that  this  diminution  in  Sunday- 
school  energy,  which  we  have  traced 
in  Church  of  England  schools,  does 
not  ext^end  in  the  same  degree  to  the 
schools  of  the  other  religious  de- 
nominations. Yet  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent, it  does  affect  the  whole  mass  of 
Sunday-school  scholars,  for  whilst 
at  all  earlier  periods  the  Sunday- 
school  scholars  were  gaining  largely 
on  the  population,  the  educational 
census  of  1851  seems  to  mark  the 
high  tide  of  this  increase.  For 
whilst  that  census  gave  a  return  of 
2,407,642  Sunday-scholars  out  of  a 
population  of  17,927,609,  the  return 
of  the  Royal  Commission  of  1861  gave 
2,411,554  scholars,  only  3,912  more 
than  at  the  preceding  period,  to 
a  population  which  had  risen  to 
20,061,725,  and  this  report  ranged 
over  all  religious  denominations  ;  for 
it  divides  these  2,411,554  Sunday- 
scholars  in  the  proportion  of 
1,092,882  to  the  Chiu-ch  of  England, 
1,200,117  to  Protestant  Dissent,  and 
35,453  to  the  Roman  Catholics. — Rp. 
of  Oxford. 

48.   S.  S.  in  Scotland. — As  early 
as  the   year   1756,   a   Presbyterian 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


11 


linister  started  a  Sabbath-scliool  in 
lis  own  house,  which  was  attended 
)j  thirty  or  forty  children.  This 
'  >chool  he  maintained  for  a  period  of 
aot  less  than  fifty  years,  and  it  has 
continued  unbroken  to  the  present 
daj'.  But  after  all  these  statements,  it 
cannot  be  doubted  that  the  Sabbath- 
school,  in  Scotland,  as  it  now  exists, 
sprang  from  the  effort  of  Robert 
Raikes. — Ilepo7't  ofS.S.  Convention. 

49.  Edinburgh  S.  S.  Society.— 
In  the  year  1797,  a  number  of  pious 
persons,  of  various  denominations  in 
Edinburgh,  and  its  neighbourhood, 
who  had  been  meeting  for  some  time 
monthly,  for  the  purpose  of  praying 
for  the  revival  of  religion  at  home 
and  the  spread  of  the  Grospel  abroad, 
thought  that  some  active  exertions 
to  promote  the  important  object  for 
which  they  had  associated  should 
accompany  their  prayers.  Their 
attention  was  directed  to  the  state 
and  character  of  the  rising  genera- 
tion, and  a  society  was  formed  by 
them,  under  the  title  of  the  "  Edin- 
burgh Gratis  Sabbath  -  school  So- 
ciety," the  sole  object  of  which 
should  be  to  x:)romote  the  religious 
instruction  of  youth,  by  erecting, 
supporting,  and  conducting  Sabbath 
evening  schools  in  Edinburgh  and 
its  neighbourhood,  in  which  schools 
the  children  should  be  taught  the 
leading  and  most  important  doctrines 
of  the  Scriptures,  and  not  the  pecu- 
liarities of  any  denomination  of 
Christians.  It  was  agreed  that  the 
schools  be  conducted  by  gratuitous 
teachers,  and  the  first  school  was 
opened  in  Portsburgh,  in  March, 
1797.  The  committee  reported  in 
1812,  that  they  had  then  forty-four 
schools  under  their  care,  attended 
by  2,200  children.— *S'.  S.  Reposi- 
tory, 1813. 

50.  Education  in  Scotland. — 
A  minister  was  requested  some  years 
before  this  period,  during  his  minis- 


terial labours  in  Scotland,  to  distri- 
bute a  parcel  of  religious  books  and 
tracts.  He  offered  some  to  the  ser- 
vant of  a  family,  in  which  he  hap- 
pened to  be  a  visitor,  but  previously 
asked  her  whether  she  could  read. 
'■'■  Read,  sir"  she  replied,  with  an 
air  and  tone  of  mingled  surprise  and 
indignation,  "  i)o  you  think  I  ivas 
brought  uj)  in  England  ?" — S.  S. 
Repository. 

51.  Wales. — Wales,  at  a  very 
early  period  in  the  history  of  Sun- 
day-schools, entered  with  eagerness 
into  the  scheme,  and  adorned  her 
romantic  and  picturesque  valleys 
with  numerous  asylums  for  the  in- 
struction of  the  poor. — J.  A.  James. 

52.  As   the    only   obstacle 

was  want  of  funds,  a  subscription 
was  commenced  in  1798  for  the 
benefit  of  Sunday-schools  in  "Wales. 
In  1800  the  funds  were  raised,  and 
so  rapid  was  the  progress  of  the  de- 
sign in  that  Principality,  that  in 
three  years  177  schools  were  raised, 
containing  upwards  of  8,000  scho- 
lars.—/S.  S.  Jubilee,  1831. 

53.  In  1787  a  Sunday- 
school  was  formed  in  connection  with 
the  Baptist  Church  at  Hengoed,  in 
Glamorganshire,  by  Morgan  John 
Rhys.  This  school  was  formed  on 
the  principle  of  teaching  the  Word 
of  God  and  religious  lessons  only. 
But  the  person  to  whom  the  honour 
belongs  of  carrying  out  this  work 
was  the  Rev.  Thomas  Charles,  of 
Bala.  In  the  course  of  his  evange- 
listic efforts  he  had  found  ignorance 
as  to  religion  prevailing  to  an  extent 
scarcely  conceivable  in  a  countrj- 
professedly  Christian.  Having  thun 
acquired  a  knowledge  of  the  religious 
state  of  the  community  at  large,  ho 
felt  anxious  to  provide  some  remedy. 
The  plan  he  thought  of  was  the 
establishment  of  circulating  schools, 
moveable  from  one  place  to  another 
at  the  end  of  nine  or  twelve  months, 


12 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


or  sometimes  more.  Some  of  the 
first  teachers  he  taught  himself. 
These  schools  were  commenced  in 
1785,  and  increased,  and  supplied 
teachers  for  the  Sunday-schools, 
which  were  set  on  foot  in  1789,  and 
increased'  very  rapidly,  soon  spread- 
ing over  the  whole  country. — 
TFatson. 


54. 


Wales,    "the    land   of 


Sabbath-schools,"  is  distinguished  by 
two  peculiarities — the  presence  of 
adults  as  well  as  children  in  the 
school,  and  the  practice  of  public 
catechising  by  the  rninistry.  There 
it  is  no  uncommon  sight  to  see  the 
babe  on  its  mother's  knee,  and  the 
aged  grandsire,  with  hoary  locks  and 
wrinkled  brow,  alike  employed  in 
studying  that  Word  which  alone  ' '  is 
able  to  make  -wise  unto  salvation." 
There,  also,  may  we  see  the  minister 
of  Christ,  previously  to  the  hour  for 
service,  ascending  the  pulpit,  and 
catechising  old  and  young  on  the 
Scripture  lesson  for  the  day,  or  the 
well-learnt  oft-repeated  catechism. 
— Davids. 


55. 


* '  The   Sunday  -  schools 


to  Dissenting  congregations  are  fre 
quented  by  large  numbers  of  adults, 
as  well  as  children.  It  was  gratify- 
ing to  observe  so  many  of  the  former, 
both  male  and  female,  intermingling 
with  children,  and  often  receiving 
instruction,  in  classes,  from  indi- 
viduals much  junior  to  themselves. 
Unquestionably,  these  schools  have 
done  inestimalDle  service,  in  widely 
communicating  the  elements  of  reli- 
gious knowledge." —  Tremenheere'  s 
Report. 

56.  Ireland. — About  the  year 
1770,  the  Eev.  Dr.  Kennedy,  curate 
of  Bright  parish  in  the  county  of 
Down,  was  painfully  struck  with  the 
total  disregard  of  the  Lord's  day 
among  the  young  people  and  children 
in  some  \dllages  through  which  he 
had  to  pass  in  going  to  and  from  his 


duty  at  the  church.  His  congrega- 
tion was  very  small.  A  gentleman 
of  the  name  of  Henry,  with  his  family, 
joined  it,  and  with  him  Dr.  Kennedy 
consulted  by  what  means  it  could  be 
improved.  Having  engaged  a  well- 
conducted  and  competent  man  in  the 
capacity  of  parish  clerk,  they  got 
boys  and  girls  together  on  Sundays 
to  practice  psalmody.  This  made  a 
little  stir.  In  1774,  to  singing  was 
added  exercise  in  reading  the  psalms 
and  lessons  for  the  day,  which,  being 
rumoured  abroad,  excited  furthe? 
attention.  Ere  two  years  had  elapsed, 
the  numbers  had  considerably  in- 
creased. Those  who  came  were  de- 
sired to  bring  what  Bibles  and  Tes- 
taments they  could,  in  order  to  their 
being  instructed  and  examined  in 
what  they  read.  Then  the  children 
of  other  denominations  were  invited 
to  share  the  advantages  of  the  meet- 
ing. And  thus,  by  the  year  1778, 
the  gathering  which  had  begun  as  a 
singing  class  a  few  years  pre^-iously, 
had  matured  into  a  "school"  held 
regularly  every  "Sunday"  for  an 
hour  and  a  half  before  the  morning 
service.  The  good  work  went  on 
and  prospered  imtil  the  latter  part 
of  the  year  1785,  when  Dr.  Kennedy 
heard  of  the  proceedings  in  England 
for  the  establishment  of  Sunday- 
schools.  His  own  was,  in  reality,  a 
Sunday-school  ah'eady. —  Watson. 


57. 


In  November,   1809,  a 


meeting  of  leading  Christian  men  was 
held  in  the  banking-house  of  the 
Messrs.  La  Touche,  in  Dublin.  Then 
and  there  the  "Hibernian  Sunday- 
school  Societv"  was  formed. —  Wat- 


son. 


58. 


Under  the  title  of  the 


"  Sunday-school  Society  for  Ireland," 
its  fifty-first  report  states  that  there 
were  then  in  connection  with  the 
Societv,  2,700  schools,  containing 
233,230  scholars,  and  21,302  teachers. 
—Ibid. 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WORLD. 


13 


59.  S.  S.  and  Popnlation. — One 
county  in  "Wales  lias  two-fifths  of 
its  population  attending  a  Sabbath.- 
seliool ;  another  (Radnor),  only  one- 
sixteenth;  Yorkshire  has  one-fifth; 
Middlesex,  one-twenty-sixth ;  the 
other  counties  running  between 
these  two  extremes.  About  one- 
ninth  seems  the  most  common. — 
Parsojis. 

60.  France. — The  first  S.  S.  in 
France  was  organised  in  the  city  of 
Bordeaux,  in  1815,  by  a  young 
minister  of  the  Reformed  Church, 
named  Martin,  who  had  yisited  Eng- 
land, and  who  received  from  the 
London  S.  S.  Union  a  grant  of  £10 
towards  the  purchase  of  books.  His 
example  was  followed  by  other  minis- 
ters in  the  ^dcinity.  In  1819  the  first 
Methodist  S.  S.  was  organised  in 
^N'ormandy  by  the  Rev.  Chas.  Cook, 
who  had  just  arrived  from  England, 
and  whose  apostolic  labours  in  France 
for  forty  years  have  endeared  his 
memory  to  thousands  of  Frenchmen. 
In  Paris,  the  first  S.  S.  was  organised 
in  1822,  by  Pastor  F.  Monod.  These 
three  men,  Martin,  Cook,  and  Monod, 
took  the  lead  in  S.  S.  teaching,  and, 
in  1828,  it  appears  that  the  Reformed 
Church  of  France  could  boast  of  some 
eighty  Sunday-schools.  Many  of 
these  schools,  however,  were  merely 
separate  ser^'ices  for  children,  exclu- 
sively held  by  the  ministers,  without 
the  help  of  any  teachers.  From  that 
year  to  1846,  little  seems  to  have 
been  done.  But  in  this  year  a  pam- 
phlet was  published,  entitled,  "His- 
tory and  organisation  of  a  Sunday- 
school."  It  gave  a  new  impulse. 
It  especially  drew  attention  to  the 
fact  that  the  introduction  in  a  school 
of  classes  and  teachers  was  a  great 
improvement.  Still  little  progress 
was  made,  for,  when  in  1851,  I  was 
requested  to  prepare  a  statistical 
report  on  S.  Ss.  in  France,  for  the 
meeting  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance 


in  London,  I  could  not  find  more 
than  150.  From  this  time,  however, 
a  great  change  has  taken  place.  The . 
starting  of  a  S.  S.  magazine  in 
January,  1851,  seems  to  have  been 
the  beginning  of  a  new  era  for  S.  Ss. 
Its  editor  met  at  first  with  but  little 
encouragement.  The  printer,  who 
was  a  leading  Protestant,  ad^-ised 
him  to  print  only  an  edition  of  400 
copies  of  the  first  number,  adding 
that  probably  he  would  have  many 
left  on  his  hands ;  and  when,  at  the 
end  of  the  first  year  it  was  found 
that  the  number  of  paying  subscribers 
had  actually  reached  600,  the  maga- 
zine was  considered  to  have  met  with 
much  success.  The  following  year 
witnessed  the  organisation  of  the 
S.  S.  Union  of  France,  which  has 
been  instrumental  of  much  good. 
The  members  of  its  committee  repre- 
sent, according  to  its  constitution, 
the  leading  Protestant  denominations 
in  our  country,  viz.,  Reformed,  Lu- 
therans, Methodists,  Independents, 
and  Baptists,  and  the  greatest 
harmony  has  never  ceased  to 
exist  between  them.  Indeed,  the 
society  has  been  recognised  as  the 
very  personification  of  the  Evangeli- 
cal Alliance.  There  are  now  (1865) 
in  France  700  S.  Ss.,  with  30,000 
children.  In  Paris  alone  there  are 
thirty-five  schools,  with  nearly  4,000 
scholars. — J.  P.  Cook. 

61.  In  some  parts  of  France 

Sunday-schools  are  conducted  at  the 
homes  of  teachers  rather  than  in  the 
school-room.  In  the  school-room 
the  superintendent  addresses  the 
school  as  a  whole,  very  much  as  a 
pastor  from  the  sacred  desk,  the 
teachers,  in  their  classes,  merely 
remaining  with  their  scholars  and 
preserving  good  order.  The  teacher 
appoints  one  hour  or  more,  during 
the  week,  at  whicli  all  his  class  are 
expected  to  be  present,  to  be  in- 
structed out  of  the  Word,  to  engage 


14 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


in  singing,  prayer,  &c.  There  are 
many  advantages,  readily  perceived, 
in  this  combination  of  features  in 
the  work.  The  family  featui'e  is 
secured,  and  the  organization  of  the 
school  is  also  preserved.  Ties  are 
formed  more  readily,  and  are  apt 
to  be  more  enduring  for  the  greater 
familiarity  that  is  begotten  in  the 
teacher's  home  between  the  teacher 
and  the  scholars  and  between  the 
scholars  themselves.  — American 
Report. 

62.  S.  Ss.  in  the  East.— Dr. 
Wise,  of  New  York,  in  a  recent 
number  of  the  S.  S.  Jourtial  (I860), 
reports  a  S.  S.  in  Alexandi'ia, 
Egypt,  numbering  fi'om  50  to  70 
pupils.  Cairo  has  two  S.  Ss.  Je- 
rusalem has  nearly  100  scholars ; 
Shechem,  26 ;  Nazareth,  a  small 
class ;  Damascus,  60  pupils ;  Bei- 
rout,  100  ;  and  Constantmople,  150. 
Athens  has  two  Sunday-schools,  and 
Smyrna  several  flourishing  classes. 

63.  S.  Ss.  in  West  Indies. — In 
the  year  1810,  the  Committee  of  the 
Simday-school  Union  were  solicited 
to  grant  assistance  towards  the 
carrying  on  of  Sunday-schools  esta- 
blished in  the  West  India  Islands. 
At  St.  John's,  Bermuda,  a  school 
had  been  established,  containing 
SO  children,  mostly  blacks  ;  at  St. 
John's,  Antigua,  two  schools,  one 
containing  100,  and  the  other  650 
scholars.  The  Committee  made 
grants  of  books  to  these  schools ; 
but  finding  their  means  inadequate 
to  meet  the  demands  which  would 
thus  come  upon  the  funds,  they 
induced  the  Sunday-school  Society 
to  extend  assistance  to  the  colonies 
of  this  kingdom.  —  Watson. 

64.  America.  —  The  Sabbath- 
school  is  the  chief  ornament  and 
bulwark  of  American  Chilstianity, 
and  the  pet  scheme  of  the  American 
churches.  It  obviously  occupies  a 
much  higher  place  among  our  trans- 


atlantic brethren  than  it  does  in  our 
country.  The  shortest  visit  to  one 
of  their  best  Sabbath- schools  would 
convince  anyone  of  the  truth  of  this 
remark.  The  building  itseK  would 
show  the  high  estimation  in  which 
the  work  is  held.  Mission  work 
among  their  adults  is  beset  with 
special  difficulties,  therefore  they 
have  concentrated  their  efforts 
chiefly  upon  the  young.  Then 
their  week-day  education  is  almost 
exclusively  secular.  Add  to  this 
the  fact  that  democracy  invests  the 
masses  with  great  political  power, 
and  you  have  the  explanation 
of  the  pre-eminent  place  which 
American  piety  has  awarded  to  the 
Sabbath- school  among  Christian  ac- 
tivities. It  is  also  a  remarkable 
fact  that  nearly  all  the  additions 
to  the  membership  of  the  churches 
are  directly  from  the  Sabbath- 
school.  Among  the  teachers,  too, 
you  will  find  many  gentlemen  and 
ladies  of  highest  social  position, 
and  who  are  far  advanced  in  life. 
Many  laymen  (Mr.  Pardee  seems 
to  be  one  of  them)  make  Sabbath- 
school  teaching  the  chosen  work  of 
their  life,  devoting  themselves  to  it 
as  a  sacred  science,  worthy  of  all 
the  patient  thought  and  loving 
labour  they  can  lavish  upon  it. 
Their  love  for  the  work  is  fruitful 
of  expedients  for  surrounding  it 
with  attractions,  both  for  the 
teachers  and  the  scholars.  In 
short,  they  exalt  the  Sabbath- 
school,  because '  they  believe  it  to 
be  the  readiest  and  most  efiectual 
means  of  bringing  sinners  home  to 
the  Saviour,  and,  even  where  it 
fails  to  do  that,  of  producing 
valuable  citizens. — Rev.  J.  Wells, 
Glasgow. 


65. 


-•  In   our   own   land  our 


Pile:rim  Fathers  entered  unon  the 
work;  for  Ellis,  in  his  "History  of 
Roxbury,"  Massachusetts,  says  : 
"  In  1674,  6th  11th  month,  is  the 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WOELD. 


15 


first  record  of  a  Sabbath-scliool." 
The  records  of  the  Pilgrim  Church 
in  Pljnnouth,  Massachusetts,  inlbrni 
us  that  a  Sabbath- school  was  there 
organised  as  early  as  in  1680.  But 
the  hrst  Sabbath-school  of  which 
we  have  any  authentic,  definite,  and 
detailed  account,  extending  over  a 
period  of  a  quarter  of  a  century,  was 
that  established  by  Ludwig  Hacker, 
in  Ephi'atah,  Lancaster  county,  Penn- 
sylvania, as  early  as  the  year  1747. 
It  was  continued  uninterruptedly 
during  a  period  of  more  than  thirty 
years,  until  the  building  was  taken 
for  a  soldiers'  hospital  in  the  time 
of  the  Revolutionary  War.  .  It  en- 
joyed precious  seasons  of  revival, 
and  had  its  children's  meetings,  and 
we  are  informed  that  many  childi'en 
were  hopefully  converted  to  God. 
We  have  before  us  a  long  letter 
from  Dr.  Fahnestock  to  the  Eev. 
W.  T.  Bi^antley,  D.D.,  of  PhHa- 
delphia,  written  in  1835,  detailing 
many  interesting  facts  connected 
with  the  history  of  this  Sabbath- 
school,  di'awn  from  living  pupils 
and  records. — Pardee. 


.  66. 


The  Sunday-school  idea. 


improved  by  the  introduction  of  un 
paid  teachers,  and  w4th  greater  at 
tention  to  its  religious  character,  was 
developed  in  the  United  States  by 
Francis  Ashbury,  the  patriarch  of 
American  Methodism.  He  planted 
what  may  be  called  the  first  Ame- 
rican Sunday-school  in  Hanover 
County,  Virginia,  in  1786.  In  1790 
the  Methodist  Conference  formally 
resolved  on  establishing  Sunday- 
schools  for  poor  children,  white  and 
black. — Heport  of  Meth.  Eins.  !S.  S. 
Unio?i,  1858. 


York  that  had  any  permanence. 
Mrs.  Graham  described  the  move- 
ment in  her  diary  as  "  a  wonderful 
thing  that  young  ladies,  the  first  in 
station,  in  society,  and  accomplish- 
ments, should  volunteer  to  teach  the 
little  orphans  of  God's  providence," 
and  she  prays  devoutly  for  a  bless- 
ing upon  them. —  Watson. 

68.  In  a  subsequent  letter, 

dated  February  10th,  1816,  Mr. 
Bethune  says,  "The  gentlemen  of 
this  city  are  now  busily  engaged, 
and  a  general  meeting  is  called  on 
Monday  next,  for  the  organisation  of 
a  society  for  the  instruction  of 
children  and  adults."  Thus  origi- 
nated the  "New  York  Sunday- 
school  Union,"  which  has  for  so 
many  years  pursued  its  labours  with 
increasing  usefulness  and  success. 
Before  the  institutions,  whose  forma- 
tion we  have  thus  recorded,  came 
into  existence,  there  were  but  four 
Sunday-schools  in  the  city  of  New 
York. — S.  S.  Bepositorxjy  1816. 
American  S.  S.  World. 

The  New  York  Union 


now  comprises  216  schools,  contain- 
ing 70,000  scholars,  with  a  band  of 
teachers  numbering  5,250. —  Watson. 


70. 


In  1816  the  New  York 


67. 


About   the  year    1803 


Mr.  Di\T.e  Bethune,  an  active  Chris- 
tian philanthropist,  visited  England, 
and  returned  filled  with  the  Sunday- 
school  idea.  In  1804  he  opened  one 
of  the  first  Sunday-schools  in  New 


Sunday-school  Union  was  established, 
and  in  1824  the  American  Simday- 
school  Union.  In  1861  there  were 
in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland, 
3,600,000  puiiils,  and  340,000  tea- 
chers in  the  various  schools.  In  the 
same  year  it  is  estimated  that  there 
were  in  the  United  States  3,000,000. 
At  the  present  time  (1868)  there  are 
doubtless  4,000,000  children  in  our 
Sunday-schools,  and  400,000  teachers. 
—  Waldo  Abbott. 

71.  America  has  this  pecu- 
liarity;— that  of  children  of  all 
ranks,  from  the  highest  to  the  loicest, 
mimjling  on  the  same  form  and  par- 
taking of  the  same  instruction.    This 


16 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


feature,  as  well  as  that  of  adults 
learning  with  children,  is  common 
in  most  of  the  schools  connected  "svdth 
our  missionary  stations. — Davids-. 


72. 


Another   characteristic 


of  our  schools  is,  they  embrace  all 
classes  and  ranks  of  children :  there 
are  to  be  found,  in  all  our  schools, 
the  childi'en  of  the  wealthiest  and 
most  elevated  citizen  receiving 
lessons  of  virtue  and  heavenly  wis- 
dom, side  by  side  with  the  children 
of  the  humblest  and  most  dependent ; 
and,  not  unfrequently,  from  the  lips 
of  those  who  earn  their  bread  by 
daily  manual  labour. — Packard. 


73. 


A  visitor  to  my  school 


once  said  to  me,  "  You  seem  to  have 
no  poor  children  here."  I  answered, 
"  Nearly  half  of  the  children  present 
are  entirely  poor."  He  looked  at  a 
class  of  girls  who  were  near  us,  and 
expressed  his  doubts.  I  said,  "  See 
those  two  seated  first  on  the  bench. 
One  of  them  is  the  daughter  of  a 
man  of  large  wealth ;  the  other 
the  child  of  a  poor  widow  who 
supports  her  family  with  her 
needle."  *'  I  see  no  difference 
between  them,"  was  the  reply. 
Such  was  the  aspect.  And  such 
is  the  elevating  and  refining  power 
of  our  schools  when  made  attractive 
and  effective. — Dr.  Tyng. 


74. 


AU  the  children  of  the 


church,  all  the  young  people  in  the 
congregation,  irrespective  of  age  or 
station,  ought  to  be  found  connected 
with  the  Sabbath-school  as  scholars. 
The  late  excellent  Dr.  Leland,  after 
an  experience  of  many  years,  said, 
' '  I  have  no  hesitation  in  declaring 
it  to  be  my  settled  conviction,  that 
Sunday-school  instruction  is  to 
children  what  the  preaching  of 
the  Word  of  God  is  to  adults." — 
Davids. 


75. 


In   Great    Britain    the 


work  is  embarrassed  from  the  fact 


that  as  a  general  rule  only  the 
children  of  the  poor  and  middle 
classes  attend  their  Sabbath-schools. 
In  the  early  stages  of  the  Sabbath- 
school  movement  in  this  country 
the  same  custom  prevailed  here, 
and  it  is  certainly  worthy  of  record 
by  what  means  the  change  was 
effected. — Pardee. 


76. 


"  It  was  the  same  here 


at  first,  and  I  do  not  know  but  I 
had  an  important  hand  in  producing 
the  change.  I  saw  the  tendency  of 
tilings,  and  feared  that  our  Sunday- 
schools  would  result  in  a  failure  if 
only  the  poor  children  gained  the 
benefit  of  them  in  this  land,  and  it 
troubled  me  for  some  year  or  two. 
At  last  I  resolved  to  overthrow  that 
system,  and  went  and  called  upon 
Judge  W ,  one  of  my  most  in- 
fluential families,  and  said,  '  Judge 

W ,  I  want  you  to  bring   your 

children  to  Simday- school  next 
Sabbath,'  *  3Ie  I '  exclaimed  the 
Judge  in  amazement.  *  Yes,  you,' 
calmly  responded  Dr.  Beecher:  'I 
have  made  up  my  mind  to  take 
my  children,  and  I  want  you  and 
a  few  others  of  the  best  families  to 
popularise  the  thing.'  A  little  ex- 
planation  secured    the  object.      He 

then   called  upon  Mrs.    S ,  the 

most  aristocratic  lady  in  the  com- 

munitj^,  and   said,   *  Mrs.   S ,   I 

want  you  to  lead  your  two  daughters 
into  our  Sunday-school  next  Sab- 
bath;' and,"  said  the  Doctor,  "Mrs. 
S almost  shouted  in  astonish- 
ment; but  a  more  particular  and 
careful    explanation    than    sufficed 

with  Judge  W succeeded  here ; 

and  then  the  family  of  the  first 
physician  was  in  like  manner 
secured,  and  we  all  turned  our 
labour  and  influence  on  the  Sunday- 
school  movement,  and  it  gave  an 
unheard-of  impetus  to  our  Sunday- 
school,  and  by  means  of  the  press, 
and  by  letters  and  personal  conver- 


SIWDAY    SCHOOL   WOELD. 


17 


sation,  the  facts  became  known  and 
met  with  almost  uniYersal  approval 
and   adoption    in   our  country,  and 
the  reform  soon  became  complete."  [ 
Blessings,  a  thousand  blessings  rest  j 
upon    the  memory  of  the   man,  or  I 
the  men  and  women,  who  aided  to 
bring  about  this  glorious  change  in , 
this  land  ! — Dr.  Lyman  Beecher.       i 

77.  Statistics. — How  many  are 
there  in  all  our  Sabbath-schools  ? 
Answer.  If  the  question  refers  to 
the  United  States,  I  think  we  may 
safely  say  that  now  we  have,  in 
Sabbath-schools,  about  four  millions 
of  children  and  youth,  with  about 
four  hundred  thousand  teachers.  A 
quarter  of  a  century  ago  or  so,  the 
numbers  were  estimated  at  two  mil- 
lions five  hundred  thousand,  but  this 
was  when  the  great  "Western  States 
were  in  there  comparative  infancy. 
The  number  rapidly  increased  to 
three  millions,  and  then  to  three 
millions  five  hundred  thousand,  and 
now  our  returns  and  estimates  reach 
four  millions.  Great  Britain  has 
about  the  same  number,  both  of 
teachers  and  scholars ;  but  we  do 
not  think  all  other  countries  can 
raise  the  full  number  of  Sabbath- 
school  children  quite  up  to  ten  mil- 
lions, or  the  number  of  Sabbath- 
school  teachers  to  a  grand  army  of 
one  million  stronj?. — Pardee. 


choice.  The  weeds  you  see  have 
taken  the  liberty  to  grow,  and  I 
thought  it  unfair  in  me  to  prejudice 
the  soil  in  favour  of  roses  and  straw- 
berries."—  Coleridge. 


79. 


There  cannot  be  in  the 


Christian  world  any  such  thing  as  a 
nation  habitually  absolved  from  the 
duty  of  raising  its  people  from  bru- 
tish ignorance The  concern 

of  redeeming  the  people  from  a 
besotted  condition  of  their  reason 
and  conscience  is  a  duty  at  all  events, 
and  to  an  entire  certainty  is  a  duty 
imperative  and  absolute ;  and  any 
pretended  necessity  for  such  a  direc- 
tion of  the  national  exertion  as  would 
be,  through  a  long  succession  of 
time,  incompatible  with  a  paramount 
attention  to  this,  must  be  an  imposi- 
tion too  gross  to  furnish  an  excuse 
for  being  imposed  on.  Now  we 
earnestly  wish  it  might  be  granted 
;  by  the  Almighty,  that  the  political 
institutions  of  the  nations  should 
speedily  take  a  form  and  come  under 
an  administration  that  would  apply 
the  energy  of  the  State  to  so  sublime 
a  purpose ;  nor  can  we  imagine  any 
test  of  their  merits  so  fair  as  the 
question,  whether,  and  in  what 
degree,  they  do  this,  nor,  of  course, 
any  test  by  which  they  may  more 
naturally  decline  to  have  those 
merits  tried. — J.  Foster. 


OBJECTS. 


78.  Education.— Thewald thought 
it  very  unfair  to  influence  a  child's 
mind  by  inculcating  any  opinions 
before  it  should  have  come  to  years 
of  discretion,  and  be  able  to  choose 
for  itseK.  I  showed  him  my  garden, 
and  told  him  it  was  my  botanic 
garden.  ''How  so?"  said  he,  "it 
is  covered  with  weeds."  "  Oh,"  I 
replied,  ' '  that  is  because  it  has  not 
yet  come  to  its  age  of  discretion  and 


80. 


The  problem  of  raising 


a  nation  in  morals,  in  virtue,  and  in 
religion,  and  also  of  making  the  in- 
stitutions of  a  nation  stable  and  per- 
manent, has  never  been  solved  by 
the  reason  of  man.  jS^o  wise  man 
could  do  it  by  legislation,  no  strong 
one  could  do  it  by  any  accumulation 
of  power.  But  thanks  be  to  God, 
we  have  not  now  to  solve  these  pro- 
blems. The  government  of  God  over 
men,  as  revealed  in  the  Gospel  of 
His  Son,  will  give  safety  and  perma- 
nency to  nations,  and  will  raise  and 
purify   any   and   all    people.     It  is 


18 


SITNDAT   SCHOOL    WOELD. 


destined  to  do  it.  Never  will  the 
time  come  when  the  stranger  shall 
prowl  around  the  ruins,  trpng  to 
find  the  grave  of  any  nation  which 
is  controlled  hy  the  Gospel.  Were 
we  labouring  for  man  only  as  a  crea- 
ture of  time ;  were  we  only  trying 
to  render  the  institutions  of  our  own 
dear  country  permanent ;  to  preserve 
this  the  beautiful  retreat  of  en- 
lightened freedom  ;  and  to  cause  our 
beautiful  hills  and  sweet  valleys  to 
teem  with  a  happy,  virtuous,  intel- 
ligent popidation  when  we  are  gone 
to  the  grave;  we  should  strive  to 
apply  the  only  power  that  can  pro- 
duce these-  results — the  Gospel  of 
Jesus  Christ.  Indeed,  the  only  pro- 
blem for  the  Church  now  is, — by 
what  means  can  the  principles  of  the 
Gospel  be  made  the  most  speedily,  uni- 
formly, and  extensively,  to  pervade 
this  and  all  other  nations  ? — Todd. 

81.  Eeligious  Education. — I  re- 
joice in  the  belief,  that  the  impression 
is  becoming  more  and  more  universal, 
even  among  those  who  are  not  pro- 
fessedly acting  as  Christians,  that  the 
heart  must  be  educated  as  well  as  the 
mind.  I  select  the  following  testi- 
mony from  M.  Victor  Cousin's  able 
report  on  Primary  Instruction.  ' '  We 
have  abundant  proof  that  the  well- 
being  of  an  individual,  like  that  of  a 
people,  is  nowise  secured  by  extraor- 
dinary intellectual  powers,  or  very 
refined  civilisation.  The  true  hap- 
piness of  an  individual,  as  of  a  people, 
is  founded  in  strict  morality,  seK- 
government,  humility,  and  modera- 
tion ;  on  the  wdUing  performance  of 
all  duties  to  God,  his  superiors,  and 
his  neighbours.  A  religious  cmd 
moral  education  is,  consequently ,  the 
first  want  of  a  ^ieojiler — Todd. 

82.  The  S.  S.  meets  this  Want. 
— To  meet  and  supply  this  *' first 
want  of  a  people,"  God  in  His  pro- 
vidence has  led  His  people,  step  by 
step,  to  the  present  Sabbath-school 


system.  This  system,  in  its  power 
and  influenees,  is  yet  in  its  infancy. 
It  is  but  a  few  years  since  the  thought 
of  such  schools  was  first  struck  out 
and  presented  to  the  world.  Legis- 
latures have  made  laws  respecting 
other  systems  of  training  the  young ; 
they  have  legislated  about  the  train- 
ing of  horses  to  run  races,  theatres, 
to  amuse  and  corrupt  society;  pro- 
fessorships for  training  horses  for 
war,  and  bulls  to  fight,  have  been 
endowed,  and  salaries  equal  to  those 
of  the  presidents  of  our  highest  col- 
leges have  been  settled  upon  the  pro- 
fessors ;  but  as  yet,  little  of  mind, 
little  of  thought,  comparatively  speak- 
ing, has  been  expended  upon  the 
Sabbath-school  system.  Good  men 
have  been  engaged  in  its  practical 
duties,  and  as  they  have  felt  their 
way  along  in  the  dark,  they  have 
here  and  there  thrown  out  a  modest 
hint  or  suggestion,  for  the  benefit 
of  others.  Many  good  things  have 
been  said  about  the  system,  and 
many  beautiful  speeches  made  in  its 
praise ;  but  as  yet,  no  enlarged, 
comprehensive  mind  has  taken  hold 
of  the  subject,  and  poured  out  its 
light  for  the  benefit  of  the  thousands 
and  tens  of  thousands  who  are  en- 
gaged in  Sabbath-school  teaching. — 
Todd. 

83.  The  S.  S.  Progressive.— The 
law  of  progress  is  very  noti-ceable  in 
the  teaching  of  the  Sabbath-school. 
Robert  Raikes'sfii'st  idea  was  scarcely 
more  than  to  keep  the  children  out  of 
the  streets  and  to  protect  the  Sab- 
bath. Then  the  children  were  taught 
to  read  and  write .  After  that  a  great 
advance  was  made  by  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  Bible  as  a  reading-book  ; 
the  next  step  was  to  commit  the 
Bible  to  memory;  and  then  the 
Christian  churches  took  hold  of  the 
Sabbath-school. — Pardee. 

84.  Eeligious  Purpose  of  S.  S. — 
The  main  ground  of  support  for  the 


STJXDAT    SCHOOL   "WOELD. 


19 


Sabbath-scliool  is  drawn  from  its 
religious  character.  At  the  same 
time,  it  has  claims  upon  the  good- 
will, the  confidence,  and  the  co- 
operation of  men  who  are  not  religious. 
No  man  who  wishes  to  be  thought  a 
good  citizen,  who  would  be  thought 
a  philanthropist  or  a  patriot  should 
withhold  his  countenance  and  sup- 
port from  this  enterprise.  Xo  con- 
viction is  more  assured,  in  the  minds 
of  those  who  have  had  opportunities 
of  observation  than  that  the  Sabbath- 
school  is  one  of  the  most  powerful 
and  efficient  means  of  promoting 
moralitj.  Whatever  promotes  good 
morals,  by  the  same  ratio  lessens 
crime,  and  by  consequence  lessens 
taxation,  pauperism,  vagrancy,  and 
and  all  the  long  train  of  social  and 
political  evils  which  are  the  prolific 
progeny  of  crime.  These  truths  are 
now  considered  seK-evident.  But 
there  has  been  a  further  discovery. 
There  is  no  agency  like  the  Sabbath- 
school  for  restoring  to  decency  and 
purity  those  depraved  neighbourhoods 
that  have  sunk  apparently  below  the 
reach" of  redemption. — Dr.  Hart. 

85.  Its  Chief  Object.— The  ob- 
ject of  the  S.  S.  is  the  salvation  of 
the  child;  to  bring  him  to  Christ, 
to  develop  in  him  the  life  of  Christ, 
and  to  insure  for  hiTn  a  place  with 
Christ  at  the  right  hand  of  the 
Father.  The  object  is  a  unit,  but 
the  appliances  by  which  this  work 
is  begun  and  carried  on  are  various. 
— E.  House,  31. A. 


neither  is  the  object  we  would  aim 
to  attain.  They  are  necessary 
adjuncts  ;  the  means  to  the  end, 
and  not  the  end  itself,  which  is 
only  arrived  at  by  the  conversion 
of  the  children  s  precious  and  im- 
mortal souls. — Davids. 


87. 


Unless    the    heart     is 


86. 


The  object  of  a  Sabbath- 


school  is  not  to  teach  the  children  to 
read,  not  to  implant  good  habits, 
not  to  instruct  them  in  the  truths 
of  Christianity,  in  hopes  that  they 
may  be  converted  in  after  life.  The 
Sabbath- school  does  effect  aR  these, 
and  much  more ;  but  useful  as  is 
the  art  of  reading,  valuable  the  for- 
mation of  right  habits,  all-important 
the  boon  of  a  Christian  education, 


gained  all  is  lost ;  but  if  we  appeal 
to  the  heart  alone,  we  but  develop 
the  pimy  CTiristian.     Let  us,  there- 
fore,   use    all    wisely,    but    misuse 
none.     At  first  the  aim  of  Sabbath- 
school  teaching  was  very  feeble  and 
indefinite :  to  keep  the  children  out 
of  mischief — teach  them  to  read  the 
Bible — correct    their    manners    and 
make  them  good  children — not  pro- 
fane   and    disobedient.      Then    the 
aim  was   to   give    them   a  general 
knowledge    of    Bible     history    and 
catechism.      The   ablest   early  Sab- 
bath-school works,  published  under 
the    patronage    of    the    Q,ueen    of 
England,  did  not  even  hint  at  the 
possible  conversion  of  the  children. 
The  Bible  was  long  introduced  as  a 
book  of  task  lessons  to  the  young, 
and   catechism  and  hymn  learning 
engrossed  our  Bible  classes.     Now, 
the  Bible  is  exalted,  and  so  applied 
in  our  Sabbath-schools  as  to  be  the 
most  attractive  of  aU  books  to  the 
children  and  youth.     Xow,  the  aim 
of    Sabbath- school    teaching    is,    or 
ought  to  be,  the  immediate  conver- 
sion of  the  children  to  Christ.     It 
is  a  poor  excuse  to  suffer  a  child  to 
drown    because   we   have    but    one 
opportunity    of    saving    it.      Now, 
many  Sabbath-school  teachers  have 
learned  the  great  and   precious  art 
of    leading   even   little   children   to 
Jesus—"  Just  now." — Pardee. 

88.  What  is  the  S.  S.  ?— It  is_  a 
place  where  the  churches  of  Christ 
meet  with  the  children  and  youth  for 
the  worship  and  service  of  God.  It 
is  the  Church  of  God  caring  for  the 
children  on  the  Sabbath-day.     Every 


20 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


song  of  praise,  as  well  as  every 
prayer  and  reading  and  study  of  tlie 
Word  of  God,  together  with  every 
exhortation,  address,  or  sermon, 
should  rise  to  a  high  and  holy  act  of 
simple,  loving,  child-like  devotion. 
—Pardee. 


89. 


What  is  it,  after  all,- 


but  the  Church  and  the  Gospel  for 
children?  It  is  a  divine  arrange- 
ment for  Christian  education ;  for 
bringing  the  Gospel  in  direct  and 
appropriate  application  to  youthful 
minds.  It  wlQ,  therefore,  present 
itself  as  the  habitual  and  anticipated 
instrument  for  the  religious  instruc- 
tion and  welfare  of  the  youth  in 
every  land,  under  its  faithful  em- 
ployment in  Christian  wisdom  and 
skill.  In  our  land  the  Sunday- 
school  effort  assumes  a  very  peculiar 
importance  as  a  sure  scheme  for  the 
religious  education  of  our  children. 
And  when  we  estimate  properly  the 
relation  of  this  to  adult  religion,  we 
must  say  still  further,  it  is  the  most 
hopeful  scheme  for  the  religious  wel- 
fare of  the  nation. -j-Dr.  Tyng. 

90.  How  the  S.  S.  seeks  to 
secure  its  object. — At  the  State 
Sunday-school  Convention  of  New 
Jersey,  United  States,  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Crane  read  an  essay  on  the  subject 
of  "  Our  Unconverted  Scholars," 
from  which  the  following  judicious 
counsels  are  extracted : — 

1.  Let  it  be  impressed  upon  the 
children,  in  every  suitable  way,  that 
God  claims  the  love,  accepts  the 
worship,  and  is  pleased  with  the 
obedience,  of  a  little  child. 

2.  Let  religion  be  set  before  the 
mind  of  the  child  in  its  true  point 
of  view — cheerful,  beautiful,  and 
attractive. 

3.  In  teaching  childi-en  the  way 
of  life,  make  no  needless  use  of 
abstractions  and  technicalities. 

4.  The  religious  experience  of  a 
truly  converted  child  cannot  be  ex- 


pected to  be  as  strongly  marked  as 
that  of  an  adult. 

5.  When  children  gave  evidence 
of  religious  principle,  their  pious 
desires  and  pui'poses  should  be  duly 
recognised. 

6.  In  judging  the  outward  in- 
dications of  piety  among  childi'en, 
make  due  allowance  for  their  inex- 
perience and  lack  of  knowledge. 

7.  Let  childi'en  who  avow  a  desire 
to  serve  God  be  trained  in  aU  prac- 
tical Christian  livino:. 


91. 


Among    such    institu- 


tions there  is  no  one  which  has  a 
greater  claim  to  attentive  regard, 
than  the  Sunday-school,  designed 
to  train  up  the  rising  generation  in 
the  knowledge  of  God.  The  mode 
by  which  this  object  is  attained  is 
very  simple^  Individuals  influenced 
by  love  to  the  Saviour,  and  concern 
for  the  welfare  of  the  young,  gather 
them  together  on  the  Lord's  day,  to 
unite  in  devotional  exercises,  to 
read  the  Word  of  God,  to  receive 
explanations  of  that  Word,  and  to 
attend  public  worship.  It  is  im- 
possible for  anyone  to  doubt  that 
such  a  discipline  must  be  highly 
beneficial  to  the  youthful  mind. 
The  Divine  Word  encourages  us  to 
believe  that  the  Holy  Spirit  will 
make  it  efiectual  to  the  spiritual 
and  eternal  benefit  of  the  soul ;  and 
experience  has  borne  testimony  to 
its  blessed  results. —  Watson. 


92. 


3Ioral     and     religious 


benefit ;  and  the  connection  is  so 
close,  that  a  child  of  the  least  dis- 
cernment perceives  it  without  being 
reminded  of  it.  The  very  books  in 
which  he  learns  the  art  are  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments ;  so  that  at 
the  very  time  he  is  acquiring  his 
ability  to  read,  he  is  imbibing 
the  principles  of  divine  truth  ana 
genuine  godliness.  These,  or  else 
extracts  taken  from  them,  or  hjTims 
founded  upon  their  contents,  are  aU 


SUIfBAT   SCHOOL'  WORLD. 


21 


they  ever  read  within  the  precincts 
of  the  school.  Every  child  may  he 
easily  made,  and  should  he  made,  to 
perceive  that  learning  to  read  has  a 
close  connection  with  his  spiritual 
and  eternal  interests ;  and  that 
which  the  mind  habitnally  associ- 
ates with  religions  improvement  is 
never  likely  to  become  a  means  of 
undermining  in  its  feelings  the 
sanctity  of  that  day  which  we  are 
enjoined  by  awful  sanctions  to 
remember  and  to  hallow. — J.  A. 
James. 


93. 


We  are  far  from  claim- 


ing for  the  Sabbath-school  the  merit 
of  the  conversion  of  all  its  scholars 
who  are  converted.  Bibles,  Chris- 
tian friends,  religious  Avorks,  and 
the  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  .may 
have  had  equal  or  superior  influence 
over  them  ;  but  the  numerous 
conversions  which  may  be  traced 
directly  to  the  Sabbath-school, 
entitle  us  to  conclude,  that  there 
are  many  others  whom  the  judg- 
ment day  alone  will  reveal.  They 
are  seen  as  yet  only  like  the  first 
stars  wliich  appear  on  the  brow  of 
eve  as  the  day  wanes,  but  they  shall 
be  seen  hereafter  like  the  starry  host 
in  the  noon  of  night,  shining  in  the 
firmament  for  ever  and  ,  ever. — 
Inglis. 


EELATION  TO  THE    OHUEOH. 

94.  The  Churches'  Duty.— The 
same  DiAdne  lips  which  said  ''  Go 
preach,"  said  also  and  equally  to  His 
disciples,  "Go  teachT  Says  the  Eev. 
J.  H.  Vincent :  ' '  There  is  just  as  much 
Divine  authority  for  the  Sabbath- 
school  as  there  is  for  the  sanctuary 
— no  more."  Our  Divine  Lord  and 
Master  Himself  repeatedly  astonished 
His  own  disciples  by  His  particular 
notice  of  and  care  for  little  children, 
and  with  sore  displeasure  He  rebuked 


His  followers  for  hindering  them  from 
being  brought  to  Him. — Pardee. 

95.  Means  Adapted  to  End. 

A  Sunday-school  may  be  considered 
as  a  plantation  of  young  minds,  the 
trees  of  which  strike  root  in  different 
manners,  and  blossom  at  various 
times ;  each  requiring  a  method  of 
culture  adapted  to  its  nature.  Some 
need  to  be  brought  into  the  sim, 
others  to  be  kept  in  the  shade.  Some 
I  need  to  have  their  growth  repressed  ; 
others  to  have  it  stimulated. — J.  A. 
James. 

96.  Each  Member  should  Work. 
— The  man  who  lives  for  himself, 
may  be  of  some  use  to  others  as  he 
passes  through  life ;  for  God  has  so 
constituted  things,  that  even  selfish- 
ness cannot  attain  its  highest  aims 
without  benefiting  others.  The  man 
who  lives  for  his  country,  will  do 
good  on  a  wide  scale,  and  have  the 
evening  of  his  days  cheered  by  en- 
viable recollections  ;  but  he  who  lives 
for  man,  for  the  whole  world,  is  the 
highest  benefactor  to  his  race,  the 
noblest  specimen  of  man,  and  the 
brightest  exliibition  of  the  Christian. 
— Todd. 

97.  Nui'series  for  the  Church. — 
Sunday-schools,  to  be  contemplated 
in  their  true  light,  should  be  viewed 
as  nurseries  for  the  Church  of  God ; 
as  bearing  an  intimate  connection 
with  the  unseen  world ;  and  as  ulti- 
mately intended  to  people  the  realms 
of  glory  with  "the  spirits  of  just 
men  made  perfect."  To  judge  of 
their  value  by  any  lower  estimate ; 
to  view  them  merely  as  adapted  to 
the  perishing  interests  of  mortality, 
is  to  cast  them  into  the  balances  of 
atheism;  to  weigh  them  upon  the 
sepulchre,  and  to  pronounce  upon 
their  value,  without  throwing  eternity 
into  the  scale. — J.  A.  James. 

98.  Need  of  Church  Co-opera- 
tion.— You  can  never  expect  a  con- 


22 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   ■WORLD. 


gregation  to  come  into  tlie  system,  if 
the  cliurch  stands  aloof.  Tliey  can- 
not be  induced  to  give  np  their  con- 
versations, and  their  resting  seasons, 
if  the  people  of  God  refuse  to  do  it. 
Few  have  any  conception  of  the  sins 
which  are  committed  on  the  Sabbath 
by  the  tongue.  I  was  once  acquainted 
with  a  devoted  superintendent  who 
had  one  of  the  fullest  and  most  pros- 
perous schools.  One  Sabbath  morn- 
ing he  went  out  to  get  in  the  wan- 
dering, straggling  boys  who  did  not 
come  in  their  several  classes.  He 
found  two  groups  of  boys  standing 
under  different  horse-sheds,  listening 
to  the  conversation  of  two  groups  of 
professors  of  religion.  On  coming- up 
he  found  them  in  quite  animated 
conversation,  the  one  discussing  the 
price  of  wood,  and  the  other  comput- 
ing the  price  of  rye,  in  a  season  when 
the  crops  had  fallen  short!  These 
were  members  of  the  church  talking 
together,  and  the  children  had  run 
away  fi'om  their  Sabbath- school  to 
listen  to  them.  When  the  superin- 
tendent kindly  stated  these  facts  to 
the  church,  though  no  names  were 
called,  these  individuals  were  highly 
offended.  Can  any  faithfulness  on 
the  part  of  the  superintendent  or 
teacher  cause  the  children  to  love 
the  school,  so  long  as  members  of 
the  church  do  thus  ? —  Todd. 

99.  The  Church's  Dwtj.—Iiis 
the  duty  of  the  Church  to  give  her 
countenance,  siqjport,  and  interest  to 
the  school ;  and,  if  2)ossihle,  every 
meniber  shoidd  have  something  to  do 
with  it,  either  as  a  teacher  or  a 
scholar.  The  library  should  be  re- 
vised, enlarged  by  new  books,  and 
the  church  ought  to  do  it  cheerfully 
and  abundantly.  The  parents  ought 
to  take  particular  pains  to  read  the 
books  of  the  library  for  their  ovm 
improvement,  for  an  example  to 
their  children,  and  in  order  to  be 
able    to    talk  with    their   children 


about  the  books  which  they  read. 
Many  occasions,  in  reading  these 
books,  would  undoubtedly  arise,  by 
which  deep  and  lasting  impressions 
might  be  made  on  the  memory  and 
on  the  heart.  Truth  might  be 
pressed  upon  the  conscience  under 
circumstances  which  would  cause 
them  to  abide  in  consequence  of  the 
association  with  which  they  are  in- 
dissolubly  connected. —  Todd. 

^100.  Friendly  Eelations  of  S.  S. 
aud  Church, — I  have  never  seen  the 
Simday-school  which  offered  the 
least  rebellion  to  a  fostering  church 
or  a  loving  pastor, — or  a  Sunday- 
school  that  did  not  delight  in  bring- 
ing all  its  fruits  and  gains,  and  in 
the  utmost  abundance  possible,  to 
the  bosom  of  the  chui'ch  for  its  en- 
largement, and  to  the  heart  of  the 
pastor  for  his  comfort.  And  I  know 
no  other  relation  on  this  side  than 
affectionate  gratitude  for  aU  the  care 
and  interest  they  see  awakened  for 
them. — Dr.  Tyng. 

101.  Church  should  supervise  the 
School. —  One  reason  why  the  school 
should  be  under  the  supervision  of 
the  church,  besides  the  desirableness 
of  having  the  church  cherish  it  as 
the  apple  of  the  eye,  is,  that  if  the 
teachers  are  ?iot  elected  by  the 
church,  if  they  organise  by  them- 
selves, and  stand  alone,  distinct  from 
the  church,  there  is  danger  lest  they 
feel  that  they  have  a  distinct  organi- 
sation, distinct  interests,  and  may 
lay  their  plans,  and  pursue  their 
ends,  not  only  without  consulting  the 
wishes  of  the  church,  but  without  con- 
sulting her  interests.  I  shall,  in  another 
place,  describe  the  duties  of  the 
church  towards  the  Sabbath-school ; 
but  I  wish  distinctly  to  say  here, 
that  I  should  lament  most  deeply 
to  see  the  day  when  the  teachers  in 
our  Sabbath- schools  shall  be  found 
acting  independently  of  the  churches, 
and  in  array  against  them.     There 


STTITDAT   SCHOOL  WORLD. 


23 


is  not,  cannot  be,  in  nature,  any 
separate  interests  in  the  two  bodies. 
But  sbould  tbe  day  come  when  the 
fashion  shall  prevail  that  Sabbath- 
schools  shall  be  organised  and  carried 
on  as  independent  organisations, 
then  will  heart-burnings  commence. 
Then  will  many  of  the  church  with- 
hold their  children,  the  church  and 
the  minister  stand  aloof,  or  become 
subordinate  to  the  school,  the  power 
of  the  church  will  pass  into  the 
school,  and  the  church,  in  fact,  take 
that  particular  shape.  Then  will 
the  school  control  the  election  of  the 
pastors  of  the  churches,  and  do  all 
that  which  is  now  done  by  our 
churches,  as  such.  No  man  can 
think  more  highly  of  the  Sabbath- 
school  system  than  I  do.  I  trust 
these  pages  will  prove  that  point. 
But  woe  the  day  when  they  shall 
strive  "to  lord  it  over  God's  heri- 
tage," and  concentrate  everj^hing 
pertaining  to  the  Church  of  Christ 
in  the  Sabbath-school.  Christ  did 
not  organise  His  Church  in  the  shape 
of  the  Sabbath- school,  nor  can  she 
ever  assume  that  shape  without  de- 
stroying her  proportions  and  her  ex- 
istence. The  attempt  so  to  shape 
the  Church  can  never  succeed,  and  I 
trust  it  will  never  be  made.  I  am 
not,  however,  making  war  upon  a 
man  of  straw ;  nor  would  I  make 
these  remarks  without  intending  to 
have  them  mean  something. — Todd. 

102.  The  Church  and  its  Chil- 
dren.— It  is  the  chui'ch's  duty  to 
provide  suitable  accommodation  for 
the  children  in  the  house  of  God. 
The  old-fashioned,  inconvenient, 
prison-like  galleries,  which  almost 
force  inattention  and  disorder,  should 
be  done  away  with.  The  children 
should  not  be  pent  up  in  situations 
where  the  minister's  voice  cannot 
reach,  and  his  form  is  not  visible — 
behind,  in  the  vestry,  or  the  lobby, 
or  anywhere  out  of  the  way.     Pray- 


ing churches  will  remember  that 
children  cannot  listen,  cannot  sit 
still,  if  they  do  not  see  the  person 
who  is  addressing  them;  and  will 
feel  that  children  have  an  equal 
claim  with  themselves  to  be  com- 
fortably seated  in  the  house  of  God, 
"where  the  rich  and  the  poor  meet 
together"  as  common  suppliants  of 
a  common  Father. — Davids. 

103.  A  Mistake  of  Churches.  — 
An  inadequate  seiise  of  the  importance 
of  having  good  teachers.  "When 
teachers  are  to  be  selected  it  is  fre- 
quently the  case  that  the  church 
looks  around  to  see,  not  who  is  quali- 
fied, but  who  will  do,  taking  the 
lowest  possible  standard  by  which  to 
decide  the  question.  One  will  be 
selected,  not  because  he  is  the  proper 
person,  but  because  his  father  may 
think  it  strange  if  he  be  omitted ; 
another,  because  she  belongs  to  a 
Yery  respectable  family,  and  it  would 
be  a  pity  not  to  have  the  influence  of 
such  families ;  and  a  third,  because 
he  seems  to  sit  so  loosely  upon  his 
seat  in  this  church  that  it  becomes 
necessary  to  tie  him  by  making  him 
a  teacher,  lest  he  go  somewhere  else. 
Can  a  school  be  expected  to  flourish 
when  its  teachers  are  selected  on  such 
principles  ?  Blessed  will  that  day 
be,  when  our  young  men  and  our 
young  women  shall  make  it  a  part 
of  their  education  and  thoughts  while 
studying,  to  prepare  themselves  to 
become  Sabbath-school  teachers ;  and 
a  generation  shall  rise  up  who  know 
how  to  reach  the  mind  of  children, 
because  they  were  taught  in  the  Sab- 
bath-school, and  thus  obtained  their 
qualifications.  As  things  now  are 
we  are  woefully  deficient  in  good 
teachers. — Todd. 

104.  The  best  Members  should< 
Teach,  —  The    best    intellects    and  ' 
hearts  of  the  Church  of  God  should 
be  given  to  this  work.     The  teach- 
ing; should  not  be  confined  to  the 


24 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOBLD. 


yoimg.  Elder  Cliristians  of  long 
experience  and  mature  grace,  of  com- 
manding position  and  personal  in- 
fluence, should  enlist  themselves  in 
the  actual  work  —  and  renew  their 
energies  and  their  youth  in  the  at- 
tractive laboiu-s  to  which  it  invites. 
The  provision  for  the  schools  should 
bring  out  the  unsparing  liberality  of 
the  Church,  l^othing  that  can  pro- 
mote the  comfort,  enlarge  the  useful- 
ness, or  adorn  and  render  attractive 
the  method  of  operation,  within  the 
power  of  the  members  of  any  Chui'ch, 
should  be  Tvitliheld.  The  Sunday- 
school  is  worthy  of  the  fu'st  place  in 
the  affections  and  consideration  of 
every  church.  The  advantages  which 
it  repays  make  it  an  investment  of 
incalculal)le  worth.  In  no  way  can 
the  churches  of  the  Lord  so  surely 
rise  and  shine,  so  certainly  extend 
and  prosper,  so  largely  bless  and  be 
blessed,  as  in  the  constant,  earnest, 
and  faithful  cultivation  of  their  Sun- 
day-schools.— Dr.  Tyng. 

105.  S.  S.  and  Church  of  the 
Future. — Adams  of  Wintringham, 
when  reproached  by  his  neighbours 
that  his  church  was  filled  by  drawing 
off  from  them,  simply  replied,  "  Salt 
your  sheep,  brethren,  and  they  will 
not  stray."  Thus  are  our  Sunday- 
schools  to  minister  to  our  flocks  by 
furnishing  attractions  as  well  as  in- 
structions to  our  lambs.  They  are 
the  nursery  of  the  family,  and  are  to 
make  their  little  charge  happy  in 
their  home,  loving  their  home,  and 
grateful  to  abide  at  home.  In  this 
way  the  Sunday-school  becomes  an 
important  aid  to  the  Church  in  the 
individual  connection,  and  equally  so 
in  the  extending  of  the  great  cause. 
Our  youth  grow  up  with  a  Church 
spirit  as  well  as  a  Christian  spirit. 
TTie  futiu-e  churches  of  the  nation 
rise  up  in  an  intelligent  and  consoli- 
dated power.  The  various  portions 
of  the  Lord's  house  grow  and  flourish 


under  the  influence  and  agency  of 
this  whole  work,  and  successive 
generations  show  the  importance  and 
value  of  the  influence  in  the  strength 
and  vigour  of  the  result  perpetuated. 
The  Church  reaps  the  blessing  from 
the  school  in  the  enlarged  and  gene- 
rous action,  as  well  as  in  the  intelli- 
gent and  affectionate  support  of  its 
members  thus  taught.  And  in  the 
true  and  abiding  prosperity  of  the 
churches  of  the  Lord,  the  Lord  Jesus, 
the  Head  of  the  whole  Church,  is 
Himself  glorified  and  honoured. — 
Tyng. 

106.  Another  Mistake  of  Churches 
—  Throwing  all  the  respo)isibility  of 
the  school  upon  the  teachers.  Some 
churches  will  do  so  much  as  to  select 
and  vote  for  a  certain  number  of  men 
and  women  to  be  teachers  once  a 
year.  Others  wiU  not  even  do  as 
much  as  this.  All  is  left  in  the 
hands  of  the  teachers.  If  the  pastor, 
amid  all  this  apathy,  is  disposed  to 
take  hold  and  lift  and  aid  the  teachers, 
it  is  very  well ;  but  if  he  is  not  so 
disposed,  it  is  just  as  well.  Are  the 
teachers  qualified  ?  The  church  does 
not  know;  she  hardly  knows  who 
they  are.  Do  they  study  the  lesson 
and  understand  the  Bible,  or  do  they 
dome  and  yawn  over  the  lesson,  im- 
patiently waiting  to  have  the  long 
hour  of  recitation  over  ?  The  Church 
does  not  know.  Do  the  teachers 
meet  and  pray  together  for  grace, 
and  patience,  and  the  qualification 
which  the  Holy  Spirit  can  only  im- 
part ?  Do  they  read  ?  do  they  keep 
up  with  the  times  ?  are  the  books  in 
the  library  such  that  they  can  receive 
benefit  from  them  ?  The  Church  does 
not  know.  She  never  attends  the 
meetings  of  the  teachers,  never  unites 
with  them  in  prayer,  and  has  only  a 
general  impression  as  to  the  popu- 
larity of  the  school.  When  asked  to 
contribute,  she  feels  that  all  that  she 
does  by  way  of  giving  money,  is  a 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WOELD. 


"AO 


kind  of  bounty  to  tlie  teachers,  and 
not  for  tlie  benefit  of  the  children, 
and  the  families  of  the  whole  congre- 
gation. This  is  a  criminal  course  in 
a  church.  The  interests,  the  immor- 
tal, iindying  interests,  of  your  chil- 
dren ought  not  thus  to  be  put  out  of 
your  hands  and  away  from  your  know- 
ledge. The  whole  chui-ch  ought  to 
meet  with  the  teachers,  to  pray  with 
them,  and  to  sympathise  with  them, 
and  to  share  theii"  burdens  and  their 
discouragements.  There  is  neither 
justice,  nor  mercy,  nor  the  spirit  of 
the  Gospel  in  thus  rolling  off"  the  bur- 
den upon  the  teachers,  a  burden 
which  no  set  of  teachers,  whom  I  have 
ever  seen,  are  competent  to  bear. — 
Todd. 

107.  Bear  each  other's  Burdens. 
— A  teacher  of  the  Freedmen  in  one 
of  the  Southern  States  was  sitting 
at  the  window  of  her  room,  watch- 
ing two  negroes  loading  goods  into  a 
cart.  One  of  them  was  disposed  to 
shirk  ;  the  other  stopped,  and  look- 
ing sharply  at  the  lazy  one,  said, 
"Sam,  do  you  expect  to  go  to 
heaven?"  "Yes."  "Then  take 
hold  and  lift!"  There  are  a  great 
many  Christians  in  oui'  churches  and 
Sabbath-schools,  who  expect  to  go 
to  heaven,  that  would  do  well  to 
strengthen  their  hope  of  going  there 
by  taking  hold  and  lifting  some  of 
the  burdens  which  they  let  their 
brethren  bear  alone. — American. 

108.  EfPect  of  Chui'ch  Sympathy. 
— It  can  never  be  sufficiently  de- 
plored that  so  large  a  fund  of  know- 
ledge, wisdom,  and  experience  as  is 
to  be  found  in  the  senior  branches  of 
many  of  our  congregations,  should 
be  entirely  withheld  from  the  in- 
terests of  the  children;  and  the 
regret  is  considerably  increased  by 
observing  the  total  indifference  with 
which  such  persons  frequently  regard 
the  whole  concerns  of  the  school. 
This   arises  from   a  mistaken  idea. 


that  these  things  belong  exclusively 
to  the  young.     Is  there  anything,  I 
would  ask,  in  this  business,  wMch 
would  render  it  a  disgrace  for  the 
most  affluent,  aged,  or  pious  mem- 
bers of  our    churches  to   display  a 
solicitude  in  its  prosperity  ?    Did  the 
Saviour  of  the  world  interest  Him- 
self in  the  care  of  young   children, 
and   can   any  one  of  His   followers 
think  such  a  concern  beneath  Him  ? 
I  am  not  now  asking  the  aged  to  sit 
down  upon  the  bench  of  the  young, 
or  to    sustain   the   toils   of    labour 
amidst  the  infLrmities  of  age.     I  am 
not  urging  the  father  to  neglect  the 
souls  of  his  own  offspring,  in  order 
to    instruct    the     children     of    the 
stranger.     All  I  ask,  all  I  wish,  is, 
that  they  woidd  discover   a  lively 
and  constant  solicitude  in  the  weKare 
of  the  school,  and  give  it  as  much  of 
their  time   and    attention   as  their 
strength  will  allow,  and  prior  claims 
admit.       The     hoary     crown    of    a 
righteous  old  age,  occasionally  seen 
within  the  precincts   of  the   school, 
sheds  a  lustre  upon  the  institution, 
and  encoui'ages  the  ardour  of  youth- 
ful breasts.     The  children  are  awed, 
the  teachers  are  animated,   by  the 
occasional  assistance   of  men  whose 
standing  in  the  Chui*ch  and  ripened 
piety     command    respect.       Where 
this,  however,  is  unhappily  denied, 
and  the  young  are  left  without  the 
counsel  and  smiles  of  their  seniors, 
instead   of    yielding  to  discourage- 
ment, endeavour  by  your   own  re- 
newed exertions  to  remedy  the  evil 
and    supply  the   defect.      The  less 
others   care    for   the     children,   the 
more   anxiety  to  be  diligent  should 
operate  in  your  heart. — J.  A.  James. 


109. 


In  such  a  church,  the 


school  will  not  lack  teachers  of  piety 
and  efficiency.  Heads  of  families 
will  go  into  the  school ;  not  leaving 
it  to  children  to  manage  children. 
Endnent  Christians  will  labour  faith- 


26 


SIWDAT   SCHOOL    WOELD. 


fully ;  no  longer  leaving  the  uncon- 
verted alone  to  train  the  young  in 
the  fear  of  the  Lord.  Parents  -will 
no  longer  damp  their  children's 
zeal ;  or  strive  to  restrain  their 
youthful  activity.  How  often  we 
hear  young  people  say,  and  with 
truth,  "I  would  be  a  teacher,  but 
my  father  objects." — Davids. 


110. 


The  children  of  every 


family,  whether  rich  or  poor,  need 
the  training  of  the  Sunday-school, 
and  can  gain  the  blessings  which  it 
offers  nowhere  else.  It  should  be 
a  fixed  purpose  and  effort  in  every 
church  that  the  whole  generation  of 
its  youth  should  be  thus  taught  and 
trained.  There  the  rich  and  poor 
should  meet  together,  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  that  elevating  and  refining 
influence,  which  proceeds  alone  from 
Him  who  is  ''the  Maker  of  them 
aU."— i>/-.  Tyng. 


EELATIOU   TO  PASTOES. 

111.  Pastoral  Duty. — It  is  a 
matter  of  great  surprise  and  equal 
regret,  that  many  ministers  appear 
to  take  little  or  no  interest  in  the 
concerns  of  the  Sunday-schools 
supported  by  their  congregations. 
They  are  scarcely  ever  to  be  seen 
among  the  children,  or  affording 
their  presence  and  instruction  at 
the  meetings  of  the  teachers.  The 
annual  sermon  which  they  preach 
for  the  benefit  of  the  institution 
seems  to  be  regarded  by  them  as  a 
legal  discharge  from  all  further 
obligation  to  interfere  on  its  behalf ; 
and  till  they  sit  down  to  compose 
their  sermon  for  the  next  anni- 
versary, it  is  neglected  and  for- 
gotten. To  what  can  such  omission 
be  attributed?  They  can  scarcely 
imagine  that  a  school  containing 
two,  three,  or  four  hundred  im- 
mortal   souls,   is    an   object   below 


their  notice,  or  beyond-  their  duty; 
nor  will  they  shelter  themselves 
under  the  excuse  that  when  they 
undertook  the  charge  of  the  con- 
gregation, they  did  not  stipulate 
to  concern  themselves  about  the 
school.  Does  it  comport  with  that 
zeal  and  piety  by  which  they  profess 
to  be  moved,  to  hear  of  so  many  im- 
mortal souls,  most  of  them  grossly 
ignorant  and  wicked,  assembling 
every  week  within  the  sphere  of 
their  labours,  for  religious  instruc- 
tion, and  yet  scarcely  ever  enquire 
how  they  are  going  on  ?  Do  not 
ministers  strangely  neglect  the 
means  of  increasing  their  own  per- 
sonal influence,  when  they  suffer 
so  important  an  institution  to  be 
in  constant  operation  among  their 
people,  and  yet  have  little  or  no 
share  in  directing  its  movements  ? 
Is  it  not  teaching  their  congrega- 
tions to  act  independently  of  their 
pastors,  and  to  diminish  the  weight 
of  their  office,  which  is  already  in 
the  estimation  of  many  far  too 
light  ?  Do  they  consult  the  in- 
terests of  the  Church  by  neglecting 
those  of  the  Sunday-school?  If  a 
proper  share  of  attention  were  given 
to  those  poor  youths,  in  all  pro- 
bability its  happy  result  would  often 
prove  a  balm  to  heal  the  wounds 
occasioned  by  a  want  of  ministerial 
success.  Here  they  would  find 
materials  to  bmld  up  their  dilapi- 
dated churches,  and  strengthen  the 
walls  of  Zion,  long  mouldering 
beneath  the  desolating  ravages  of 
death.  It  is  true,  in.  many  cases 
the  pastor's  hands  are  already 
nearly  full  of  cares,  and  his  arms 
weighed  down  with  the  interests 
dependent  upon  them  ;  but  the 
duty  I  enjoin  would  add  little  to 
the  number  or  the  weight  of  Ms 
engagements,  while  it  would  add 
much  to  his  influence,  his  useful- 
ness, and  his  comfort. — J.  A. 
James. 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   -WORLD. 


27 


112. 


Not    a    little    lias    it 


surprised  and  pained  us,  on  reading 
the  best  Sunday-school  works  ex- 
tant, to  find  so  little  advanced  on 
the  very  important  and  practical 
subject  of  our  present  chapter.  It 
seems  as  if  the  subject  were  a  for- 
bidden one,  and  as  if  the  ministry 
and  the  Sabbath-school  had  assumed 
an  almost  hostile  position  with  re- 
gard to  one  another.  A  few  short 
sentences,  and  those  in  a  half  fault- 
finding or  extenuating  tone,  with 
nothing  definite  or  distinct,  is  all 
that  the  most  eminent  Sunday- 
school  writers  have  given  us  upon 
the  subject.  Can  this  be  right  ? 
The  Bible  describes  the  minister  of 
every  sect  and  party  as  an  appointed 
head  over  all  committed  to  his  care  ; 
a  shepherd  to  feed  the  Jioch,  sheep 
and  lamhs  alike ;  to  watch  for  the 
souls  of  all,  of  whom  he  is  the 
spiritual  overseer,  whether  old  or 
young ;  therefore  it  is  his  especial 
(luty  to  see  that  his  lambs  are 
trained  aright,  that  they  are  fed 
with  pure  milk,  with  sound  doctrine. 
— Davids. 

113,  Past  and  Present.— We 
know  not  how  it  may  have  been  in 
days  gone  by,  when  the  Sabbath- 
school  system  was  viewed  with  sus- 
picion and  distrust.  Ministers  may 
then  have  stood  aloof,  and  permitted 
rather  than  encouraged  the  Sabbath- 
school,  or  thought  it  too  subordinate 
an  object  for  them  to  feel  an  interest 
in.  But  times  are  altered  now ;  the 
ministry  of  the  present  day,  the 
rising  ministry,  cannot,  do  not, 
neglect  their  Sunday-schools.  Is 
it  likely  they  would,  when  so  many 
of  them  have  received  their  first 
instruction  in  the  truths  of  Christi- 
anity, whilst  sitting  on  the  humble 
Sunday-school  form?  Its  training 
has  assisted  to  open  their  minds, 
and  its  discipline  has  helped  to  form 
their  characters.     As  men,  they  owe 


much  to  its  instructions ;  still  more, 
as  ministers  of  Christ.  The  name 
is  dear  to  their  hearts,  hallowed  by 
their  fondest  and  earliest  associa- 
tions ;  and,  long  as  they  live,  they 
will  feel  the  Sunday-school  is  the 
most  valuable  agency  that  they 
possess,  and  will  promote  its  in- 
terests to  the  utmost  of  their  ability. 
Many  of  them  have  but  recently  left 
the  office  of  teacher,  to  fill  that  of 
pastor.  As  they  saw  the  tale  of  a 
Saviour's  love  taking  efiect  on  the 
hearts  of  their  youthful  charge,  , 
they  tasted  the  blessedness  of  doing 
good,  and  devoted  themselves  to 
spend  their  days  in  preaching  the 
Gospel  of  reconciliation  to  sinful 
fallen  man.  But  we  waive  this 
subject.  The  thought,  the  bare 
possibility,  that  a  minister  of  Christ 
can  feel  indifierent  or  cold  to  aught 
that  concerns  his  Sabbath-school, 
is  too  painful  to  think  of — almost 
impossible  to  conceive.  The  minister 
and  the  Sunday-school  have  the 
same  end  in  view,  they  are  de- 
pendent on  each  other ;  neither  can 
prosper  alone  :  a  oneness,  a  sym- 
pathy, a  spirit-stirring  cordiality 
must  exist  between  them,  or,  either 
the  minister  will  get  wrong  with 
his  people,  or  the  school  will  slumber 
for  lack  of  that  aid  which  he  alone, 
on  account  of  his  position,  is  com- 
petent to  bestow ;  or  both  will  alike 
lie  cold  and  lifeless. — Davids. 

114.  Pastoral  Work  in  S.  S.  Ke- 
mnnerative. — And  whether  I  con- 
sider the  efiects  upon  the  school, 
upon  the  teachers,  upon  the  chil- 
dren, upon  the  fanulies,  upon  the 
congregation,  or  upon  himseK,  I 
must  say  that  no  employment  in 
the  ministry  appears  to  me  more 
real  in  spirit,  more  promising  in 
character,  or  richer  in  results,  than 
this  personal  engagement  of  the 
actual  head  of  his 
What    rich    bless- 


pastor   as  the 
Sunday-school 
c  2 


2S 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELP. 


ings  flow  from  it  upon  all,  none 
but  tliey  wlio  have  most  thoroughly 
tried  it  can  really  tell.  And  I  am 
sure  that  no  minister  who  really 
loves  his  Master's  work,  and  wishes 
to  follow  his  Master's  pattern,  will 
voluntarily  sacrifice  the  reciprocated 
blessings  thus  presented,  when  he 
has  once  made  a  fair  experiment  of 
the  work.  Thus  will  the  pastor 
share  the  reality  of  his  interest  in 
this  blessed  effort,  and  awake  to  the 
importance  of  extending  it  as  widely 
and  as  efficiently  as  possible  in  the 
world  abroad. — Dr.  Tyng. 


115. 


I  know  not  a  pastoral 


duty  of  higher  responsibility,  than 
to  lend  your  utmost  aid  and  influ- 
ence to  give  efficiency  and  a  right 
direction  to  the  Sabbath- school.  A 
mightier  moral  engiae  has  not  been 
set  in  operation  for  many  years.  It 
is  like  a  lever,  whose  force  is  felt 
over  the  entire  congregation.  It 
affords  to  the  faithful  pastor  greater 
facilities  for  the  instruction  of  his 
people  than  any  other  agency. — Dr. 
Alexander. 


116. 


Dr.   Pay  son's   success 


as  a  pastor  was  unusually  great,  but 
it  lay  chiefly  among  the  young ; 
there  was  his  chief  strength  put 
forth ;  he  worked  in  his  school  as  a 
gardener  in  his  nurseries ;  the  classes 
under  his  own  immediate  tuition  and 
inspection  amounted  to  several  hun- 
dreds. What  was  the  deep  secret  of 
his  success  ?  By  what  spell  did  he 
awaken  the  apathy  of  parents,  arrest 
the  levity  of  youth?  He  had  a 
monthly  prayer-meeting  of  the  whole 
church  for  the  Sunday-school. — 
Campbell. 

117.     Thus     fifteen    more 

years  of  my  personal  relations  to 
Sunday-schools  have  passed  away, 
and  another  generation  has  come  to 
maturity  under  my  care.  And  I 
still  look  upon  the  work  with  in- 
creasing deliorht.     It  seems  to  me 


every  year  a  more  and  more  remu- 
nerative and  encouraging  work  for 
Christ,  in  every  way  within  my 
power  to  feed  His  lambs. — Dr.  Tyng. 

118.  Ministerial  Duty.  —  The 
ministers  of  the  Gospel  should  make 
the  Sabbath-school  an  important  part 
of  their  pastoral  charge.  Ministers 
have  done  much  to  rear  up  and  sus- 
tain the  institution  of  the  Sabbath - 
school.  That  they  have  not  done 
more,  and  all  that  might  be  reason- 
ably expected  of  them,  I  impute  in 
part  to  the  pressure  which  this  age 
brings  upon  them,  and  partly  to  the 
fact  that  they  have  never  examined 
to  see  precisely  on  what  ground  they 
should  stand  in  regard  to  it.  I  do 
not  believe  any  deficiencies  on  their 
part  which  might  be  pointed  out,  are 
the  result  of  design. — Todd. 

119.  A  Word  to  Ministers. — 
Ministers  of  Christ,  how  much  the 
prosperity  of  this  glorious  cause  de- 
pends on  your  faithfulness  —  upon 
your  influence !  To  say  that  it  can- 
not go  on  unto  perfection  without 
you,  is  almost  to  say,  that  if  it  fails 
and  languishes,  you  must  answer  for 
it.  On  you  it  devolves  to  teach  the 
teachers ;  to  counsel  and  encourage 
them  in  all  their  arduous  duties ;  to 
persuade  all  the  people  in  your  con- 
gregation, if  possible,  to  send  every 
child  to  the  Sabbath-school  as  soon 
as  it  is  capable  of  receiving  religious 
instruction ;  and  to  exercise  general 
superintendence  over  this  blessed  sys- 
tem of  benevolence.  The  teachers 
expect,  ask,  nay  implore,  your  zealous 
and  powerful  co-operation.  Surely, 
my  beloved  brethren,  you  will  not 
disappoint  them ;  you  will  not  stand 
aloof  from  so  glorious  an  enterprise. 
— Dr.  Humphrey . 

120.  I  plead  for  this  close 

connection  between  pastor  and  school 
once  more,  because  it  will  create  a 
strong,  a  sweet,  and  a  delightful  tie 
between  the  pastor  and  his  flock.  The 


SUA^DAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


29 


children  will  feel  that  their  privileges 
are  great,  because  the  minister  of  Grod 
is  so  frequently  present,  and  takes  so 
deep  an  interest  in  the  school.  The 
teachers  feel  that  they  labour  not  in 
vain ;  and  that,  however  discouraging 
their  prospects  may  be,  there  is  one 
heart  that  will  never  grow  cold,  never 
lose  its  sympathy  for  them.  The 
parents  will  feel  that  the  piety  and 
intelligence  ofthe  church  are  eidisted 
in  behalf  of  their  children,  and  will 
be  encouraged  to  co-operate.  The 
chiu'ch  will  feel  that  she  must  go 
with  her  leader,  and  will  gather  her 
sympathies  around  the  vineyard  of 
the  Lord ;  and  the  minister  himself 
will  feel,  that  when  no  success  attends 
his  labours,  he  has  a  cohort  in  his 
church,  who,  by  experience,  have 
learned  what  it  is  to  laboui'  in  vain, 
and  who  will  not  be  backward  to 
sympathise  with  him.  And  when 
tne  holy  man  of  God  dies,  there  will 
be  tears  from  the  eyes  of  those  in  the 
Sabbath-school-room  who  have  looked 
upon  him  as  their  best  friend. — 
Todd. 

121.  Examples. — Arnold,  when 
at  Laleham,  thus  assisted  the  clergy- 
man of  the  parish.  "  I  have  got  the 
Sunday-school  entirely  into  my  own 
hands ;  so  attend  to  it  I  must,  and 
will."  Few  can  estimate  the  seK- 
sacrifice  it  must  have  been,  to  a 
mind  constituted  like  Arnold's,  en- 
gaged all  the  week  in  the  higher 
branches  of  literature,  reading  with 
his  pupils  for  the  IJniversity,  to 
teach  little  ignorant  children  the 
merest  elements  of  knowledge.  A 
Sunday-school  in  a  village  parish, 
tliirty  years  ago,  had  little  indeed  to 
recommend  it  to  the  notice  of  a 
polished  and  cultivated  mind;  but 
Arnold's  only  diificulty  was,  that 
'J  he  did  not  like  what  he  ought  to 
like."  Not  liking  was,  with  Mm,  no 
reason  for  not  doing. — Davids. 

122.  '<  I  often,"  says  Doddridge, 


"make  it  my  humble  prayer,  that 
God  would  teach  me  to  speak  to 
children  in  such  a  manner  as  may 
make  early  impressions  of  religion 
on  their  hearts." 


123. 


An  aged  minister  of 


Christ,  whose  labours  had  been 
remarkably  crowned  with  success, 
was  once  asked  if  he  could  tell 
wherein  lay  the  secret  of  his  useful- 
ness. He  replied,  that,  under  God, 
it  had  consisted  in  his  paying  parti- 
cular attention  to  those  who  were 
just  entering  on  life,  and  those  who 
were  about  to  depart  from  life. — Dr, 
Steel. 


124. 


No  minister  who  wishes 


to  see  the  success  of  his  ministry,  if 
he  knew  the  satisfaction  it  would 
give  himself,  and  the  advantage  it 
would  be  to  others  in  preparing  them 
for  eternity,  far  beyond  his  mere 
preaching  all  his  days,  but  would 
immediately  set  about  teaching  his 
people  to  read,  and  catechising  them. 
—  Charles  of  Bala. 

125.  Pastors  should  be  at  the 
Head. — Simday-schools  are  scarcely 
less  necessary  to  the  pastor  than  to 
the  church ;  they  occupy  a  position 
midway  between  the  fireside  and  the 
pulpit.  The  teachers  are  his  assis- 
tants in  the  work  of  God ;  they  aim 
at  the  same  object  with  himself;  they 
are  pastors  in  miniature ;  they  are 
feeding  the  future  flock  in  embryo ; 
they  are  moulding  the  generation  to 
come;  they  are  the  pastor's  right 
arm :  without  them  and  their  labours, 
how  stupendous  soever  his  abilities, 
and  whatever  his  industry,  he  must 
always  come  immeasurably  short  of 
the  results  otherwise  attainable.  He 
can  scarcely  bestow  on  them  too  much 
care  and  attention,  in  promoting 
their  culture  and  their  competency ; 
no  labour  on  earth,  for  God,  will  so 
amply  remunerate  his  toil.  The  pas- 
tor's influence  and  responsibility  ex- 


30 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


tends,  or  should  extend,  over  the 
entire  institute.  Never,  never  will 
schools  be  worked  with  power  and 
productiveness,  in  a  spiritual  sense, 
till  they  be  placed  on  their  proper 
basis,  and  carried  on  congregationally 
as  a  leading  business  of  the  indi- 
vidual churches  of  Christ ;  a  business 
in  which  the  minister  is  to  lead, 
guide,  superintend,  and  animate  the 
whole.  This  is  at  once  the  order  of 
Scripture  and  of  nature ;  it  will 
therefore  work  universally — it  will 
work  for  ever. — Dr.  John  Camphell. 

126.  Forms  of  Pastoral  Oversight. 
— I  have  always  felt  the  importance  of 
some  further  personal  relations  to  the 
Sunday-school  than  could  be  main- 
tained merely  through  the  teachers. 
And  from  the  time  of  my  removal  to 
Philadelphia  I  established  a  monthly 
sermon  to  children,  in  order  to  bring 
my  personal  instructions  more  directly 
to  bear  on  them. — Tyng. 


129. 


Let    the   minister,    at 


127. 


Two  childi'en  were  over- 


heard conversing  together.  "  I  like 
my  minister,  he  preaches  to  us  in  the 
chapel ;  he  is  going  to  preach  to  us 
next  week.  Will  you  come  and  hear 
him  ?  He  is  such  a  nice  man ! " 
"  What  do  you  mean  ?  "  replied  the 
elder  child:  '*he  preaches  to  every- 
body, I  suppose."  ' '  Yes,  on  Sunday," 
said  the  little  one ;  ' '  but  in  the  week- 
day he  preaches  to  us  aU,  by  our- 
selves ;  and  we  sit  in  the  pews." — 
Davids. 


128. 


Let  the  minister  meet 


the  children  during  the  week,  either 
monthly  or  quarterly;  let  all  the 
lambs  of  the  flock  be  assembled, 
either  in  the  customary  place  of  wor- 
ship or  in  the  school-room,  seated 
comfortably,  the  teachers  also  being 
present ;  and  let  the  minister  preach 
a  simple  sermon,  that  even  the 
youngest  can  understand.  The  whole 
service  to  occupy  from  an  hour  to  an 
hour  and  half. — Davids. 


stated  periods,  not  on  the  Sabbath, 
examine  the  children,  class  by  class, 
on  the  Catechism  or  Scriptirre  they 
have  been  learning.  By  this  method 
the  minister  can  watch  the  progress 
of  improvement,  and  is  better  quali- 
fied to  give  such  hints  at  the  teachers' 
meetings  as  may  be  required.  The 
teachers,  also,  will  be  stimulated  to 
effort,  if  they  know  that  their  minis- 
ter wiU  shortly  be  questioning  their 
class.  Let  the  minister  preside  at 
aU.  meetings  for  business,  and  also 
at  the  prayer-meetings.  Let  the 
minister  take  tea  with  his  teachers 
once  a  quarter:  the  evening  to  be 
spent  in  general  conversation  on  the 
state  of  the  schools,  and  faithful 
advice  from  the  pastor.  At  these 
meetings,  also  he  might /orma%  and 
solemnly  admit  the  new  teachers. — 
Davids. 


130. 


If  every  pastor  would 


give  one  sermon  on  every  Sunday, 
especially  addressed  to  the  young, 
and  designed  and  prepared  to  teach 
them,  he  would  find  himself  enlarg- 
ing his  direct  usefulness  in  this  par- 
ticular work,  and  equally  advancing 
the  value  and  benefit  of  every  other 
class  of  his  public  and  private  labours 
in  religious  instruction  also.  The' 
parents  and  adults  of  his  flock  will 
learn  as  much,  and  love  as  much  the 
teaching  for  themselves,  when  he 
speaks  to  the  youth  directly  and 
simply,  as  when  he  addresses  them 
in  a  deeper  and  more  mature  dis- 
course.— Dr.  Tyng. 


131. 


If,  after  all,  the  mi- 


nister really  cannot  undertake  the 
actual  charge  and  superintendence 
of  the  Sunday-school,  can  he  not 
habitually  visit  it,  and  become  per- 
sonally acquainted  with_its  opera- 
tions and  its  needs?  What  shall 
hinder  his  giving  an  hour  of  every 
Sabbath  to  a  personal  observation  of 
the  work?     Let    him  thus  oversee 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOKLD. 


31 


the  superintendence  of  another,  and 
become  personally  familiar  with  the 
teachers  and  the  details  of  the  opera- 
tion, as  they  are  managed  in  his 
sight.  He  will  thus  become  ac- 
quainted with  the  several  ability 
and  adaptation  of  the  teachers.  He 
will  see  who  are  really  useful  in 
their  work,  and  likely  to  be  his 
effective  adjuncts  in  ministering  the 
Gospel  to  the  youth  of  his  llock. 
He  will  be  able  to  advise  the 
superintendent  in  reference  to  many 
important  facts  and  methods  of  use- 
fulness, as  they  arise  before  him. 
For  what  is  the  whole  school  but 
a  part  of  his  responsibility  in  the 
ministry !  And  what  are  super- 
intendents and  teachers,  but  parts 
of  his  ministry,  severally  carrying 
out  his  work,  and  helpers  of  his  joy? 
— D7\  Tyng. 


132.  

censured  as 


■  I  hope  I  shall  not  be 
having   said  too  much 


upon  this  special  branch  of  the  sub- 
ject before  us.  I  cannot  understand 
how  any  Christian  minister  can  feel 
himself  excused  from  a  personal, 
practical  consideration  of  this  great 
part  of  his  appointed  work.  What- 
ever is  to  be  ,^iven  up,  the  pastor 
who  follows  in  the  steps  of  his 
Master  must  not  give  up  the  chil- 
dren. The  Sunday-school  every- 
where feels  the  want  of  the  mind 
of  the  ministry  in  its  welfare — a 
real  pastoral  devotion  to  its  success. 
The  pastor  must  be  its  living,  actual 
head.  It  should  constantly  receive 
the  stimulus  and  encouragement  of 
his  presence  and  his  example.  He 
shoidd  have  the  sweet  solace  of  the 
children's  relation  to  him,  a  comfort 
to  his  wearied  spirit.  The  minister 
deprived  ot  this  loses  one  of  the  most 
precious  pleasures  of  his  work.  And 
I  cannot  but  earnestly  entreat  the 
affectionate  and  serious  contempla- 
tion of  my  brethren  in  the  ministry 
to  the  whole  subject  in  its  relations 


to   themselves,   which    I    have   at- 
tempted to  suggest. — Dr.  Tyng. 

133.  Eesult  of  Pastoral  connec- 
tion   with    S.    S. —  The    Christian 
ministry  would    be  maimed  of    its 
best  instrument,  of  its  right   arm, 
were  this  specific  co-operation  abo- 
lished.    Happy  is  the  facility  which 
this  system  affords  us,  in  beginning 
with  the  child.     His  heart  is  tender 
and   supple.      What    prepossessions 
are  escaped ! — what  dreams  are  un- 
known !     The  pastor  may  henceforth 
assume  much  of  history,  of  doctrine, 
of  principle :    the  child  is  wise  unto 
salvation ;  the  whole  quality  of  in- 
struction may  be  raised;   the  man 
of  Grod  is  encouraged  and  impelled. 
He  must  feed  his  flock  with  know- 
ledge ;   he   cannot   slight   even  the 
children   before  him,  excusing    his 
carelessness  by  their  ignorance,  or 
his  apathy  by  their  unconcern.     The 
Sabbath-school    generally    supplies 
the  sanctuary  with  its  most  intelli- 
gent hearers. — Dr.  R.  W.  Hamilton. 

134.  I  desire  to  record  my 


testimony  as  the  result  of  my  whole 
experience,  that,  in  my  judgment, 
there  is  no  department  of  Christian 
labour  more  vitally  influential  upon 
the  triumphs  of  the  Gospel, — more 
remunerative  in  its  immediate  re- 
sults of  blessing  to  the  souls  en- 
gaged,— more  effective  in  maintain- 
ing and  enlarging  the  best  interests 
of  the  Christian  Church,  and  the  most 
efficient  operation  of  the  Christian 
ministry. — Dr.  Tyng. 


135. 


Unless  ministers  awake 


to  their  grave  responsibility  in  this 
matter,  many  of  the  losses  to  the 
Church  from  the  ranks  of  senior 
scholars  will  be  laid  at  their  door. 
They  ought  to  cultivate  a  style  of 
address  which  wiU  interest  the 
young,  and,  especially,  they  ought  to 
preach  regularly  to  them,  at  least 
once   a  quarter.     Bv  condescending 


32 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


to  tlie  children  occasionally,  tlie 
youthful  hearers  are  elevated  to  a 
platform,  and  able  to  take  an  in- 
terest in  the  ordinary  services  of  the 
sanctuary.  They  would  become  at- 
tached to  the  minister,  which  would 
secure  attention  to  what  he  says. — 
Br.  Steel 

136.  God  has  committed  to 

His  ministers  the  feeding  of  the 
lambs,  as  of  the  sheep.     The  Son  of 


God  made  special  manifestations  of 
His  love 
little  ones 

cannot  be  a  ministry  faithful  to  God, 
or  a  ministry  after  the  pattern  of 
Jesus,  which  neglects  them.  An 
Christ-loving  pastor  is  a  child-loving 
pastor. — Dr.  Tytig. 

137.  <' Feed    My   lambs," 

said  Christ  to  His  disciple,  now  con- 
stituted a  teacher.  Christ's  autho- 
rity is  in  the  commission.  It  is  not 
merely  the  instinct  of  nature,  or  the 
prompting  of  philanthropy;  it  is 
the  command  of  Christ  that  each 
teacher  should  feel  binding  his  con- 
science in  his  holy  and  useful  work. 
This  gives  grave  solemnity  and  re- 
sponsibility to  the  work.  But  it 
gives  it  dignity  also.  It  is  the  work 
of  Christ,  and  there  can  be  no 
higher.  ' '  We  are  labourers  together 
with  God."  He  is  the  Good  Shepherd, 
and  under  Him  and  for  Him  the 
Christian  teacher  feeds  His  lambs. — 
Br.  Steel. 

138.  The  inJluence   of  the 

Christian  ministry  is  very  great.  It 
is  not  merely  the  influence  of  official 
position  which  maintains  its  heredi- 
tary hold  among  us,  notwithstanding 
all  the  modern  attempts  to  under- 
mine and  destroy  it  among  the  mul- 
titude of  our  people.  But  it  is  also 
the  far  greater  influence  of  demon- 
strated ability,  education,  purity  of 
character,  earnestness,  and  prudence, 
in  the  great  body  of  the  ministers  of 
aU.  the  churches,    transmitted  and 


perpetuated  as  the  abidiug  charac- 
teristics of  our  Church.  I  am  fully 
convinced  no  nation  shows  a  ministry 
more  independent,  more  exemplary, 
or  more  respected  among  the  people 
for  whom  they  labour.  To  gain 
their  influence,  therefore,  in  any 
walk  of  benevolent  eiFort,  is  of  great 
consequence  to  its  power  and  success. 
Our  churches  will  not  be  led  to  that 
enlarged  and  earnest  plan  of  thought 
Sunday-school 


and    action    in   the 
His  peculiar  love,  forthe  ^^f  ^  ^^^^^  }^^.  important  demands, 
of  His  flock.     And  that  ^^^^«  *^^  mmistry^  of  the  churches 

assume  theu*  place  in  leading  on  the 
undertaking,  to  the  utmost  of  their 
ability  to  excite  and  maintain  it. — 
Br.  Tyng. 


EELATION  TO  PAEENTS. 

139.  S.  S.  Supplies  the  place  of 
Parent. — When  Moses,  the  great 
lawgiver  of  Israel,  received  the  law 
amid  the  thunderings  and  lightnings 
and  earthquakes  of  Mount  Sinai,  he 
called  "All  Israel"  together  (Deut. 
V.  1),  and  by  divine  direction  his 
words  were  (Deut.  vi.  6) :  "  Hear, 

0  Israel,  .  .  .   these  words,  which 

1  command  thee  this  day,  shall  be 
(1.)  In  thine  heart:  and  (2.)  Thou 
shalt  teach  them  diligently  unto  thy 
children,"  &c.,  i.e.,  the  ChurcJCs 
children — not,  of  course,  leaving 
parents  out  of  account,  but  not 
referring  to  them  exclusively.  "  Is- 
rael," that  was  called  upon  by 
Moses,  was  the  Church  of  God 
upon  earth,  and  it  is  her  express 
duty  to  the  end  of  time  to  see  that 
all  her  children  shall  be  "taught  of 
the  Lord."  It  is  true  that  parents 
are  the  divinely-appointed  guardians 
and  instructors  of  their  children, 
and  this  obligation  rests  upon  them ; 
and  yet  they  are,  alas  !  too  often 
incapable  of  the  religious  instruction 
of  their  own  children  or  of  any  other, 
besides  being  often  indiffereiit ;  and 


SUKDAY   SCHOOL  WOELD. 


33 


the  Cliurch  of  God,  by  her  cate- 
■clietical  or  Sabbath-sciiool  instruc- 
tion, has  always  had,  and  probably 
will  always  have,  to  supply  the  lack 
of  unfaithful  parents.  There  is  no 
agency  which  so  supplies  the  lack  of 
mothers  as  a  good  Sabbath-school. 
Thus  we  find  in  Deuteronomy, 
nearly  four  thousand  years  ago, 
the  great  Sabbath-school  principle 
foreshadowed  and  embodied;  and 
where,  we  may  ask,  can  be  found 
in  all  the  Bible  a  more  definite 
authorisation  or  divine  appointment 
for  any  of  the  great  denominational 
Christian  churches  which  now  so 
bless  our  land  than  is  here  found 
for  the  Sabbath-school  ? — Pardee. 

140.  Parental  Co-operation, — 
In  the  agitation  of  the  Sunday- 
school  cause  and  of  the  duties  of 
pastors  and  teachers  to  the  children, 
there  is  some  danger  of  forgetting 
entirely  the  existence  of  parents. 
We  would  go  as  far  as  almost  any 
one  in  urging  upon  the  Church  the 
duty  of  looking  after  the  religious 
interests  of  the  young.  Just  so  far 
as  a  man  is  a  Christian  at  all,  will 
he  seek  to  promote  Christ's  cause, 
and  one  of  the  most  efiicient  ways  of 
promoting  that  cause,  is  to  indoctri- 
nate youth  in  the  principles  of 
religion.  This  is  a  plain,  direct, 
conclusive  argument  for  Sabbath- 
schools,  and  for  the  duty  of  the 
Church  as  such,  and  of  every  indi- 
vidual member  of  the  Church,  to 
support  the  institution.  A  church 
is  guilty,  which  allows  any  child  to 
grow  up  in  irreligion,  whom  it  has 
file  means  of  reaching  and  reclaim- 
ing. What  is  true  of  a  church,  is 
true  of  its  members  individually. 
But  this  responsibility  of  the  Church 
to  look  after  a  child,  by  no  means 
relieves  the  parents  from  responsi- 
bility in  regard  to  the  same  child. 
If  the  child  is  lost,  and  God  holds 
His  Church  guilty  for  the  loss,  it 


does  not  follow  that  He  will  hold 
the  parent  guiltless.  It  is  a  case  of 
double  responsibility  for  the  same 
object.  The  object,  the  salvation 
of  the  child,  is  so  important,  that 
God  would  put  it  under  double 
guard.  It  is  like  taking  two  en- 
dorsers to  a  note.  The  failure  of 
one  endorser  does  not  exonerate  the 
other.  The  holder  has  his  remedy 
equally  against  both,  and  thus  the 
fulfilment  of  the  obligation  is  better 
secured.  In  the  programmes  for 
institutes,  the  duties  of  teachers 
to  the  cliildren  are  the  theme  of 
constant  discussion  and  illustration. 
We  would  not  have  it  otherwise. 
But  let  us  not  ignore  the  fact  that 
parents  have  even  a  greater  stake 
than  teachers  have,  in  the  same 
issue.  The  relations  of  the  teacher 
to  the  matter  are  only  inferential 
and  secondary.  Those  of  the  parent 
are  primary  and  paramount.  I^o 
duty  of  one  human  being  to  another 
is  more  direct,  positive,  and  in- 
transferable,  than  that  of  a  parent 
to  educate  his  child,  religiously  as 
well  as  intellectually.  The  mistake 
that  many  parents  make,  practically, 
and  that  we  all  are  in  danger  of 
maldng  theoretically,  is  in  supposing 
that  this  duty  can  be  delegated. 
Some  portions  of  a  child's  education 
can  be  given  by  strangers.  But 
other,  and  by  far  the  most  important 
portions,  can  be  given  only  by  the 
parent.  If  the  home  education  of 
a  child  is  deficient,  the  school,  with 
aU  its  means  and  appliances,  will 
never  educate  him.  He  may  be 
taught  many  things,  but  his  educa- 
tion can  never  be  complete. 

141.  Parental  Duty  not  to  be 
TransfeiTed. — Many  seem  to  think 
that  the  responsibility  is  transferred 
from  themselves  to  the  teachers. 
When  their  children  are  committed 
to  the  school,  their  duty  seems  done. 
They  hope  and  believe  it  is  well  with 


34 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


their  children,  since  they  are  enjoy- 
ing Sabbath- school  instruction,  with 
what  kind  of  fidelity  or  appropriate- 
ness they  are  unable  to  teU.  But 
they  indolently  conclude,  since  they 
patronise  the  school,  and  their  chil- 
dren are  there,  all  is  well.  But  no 
parent  ought  to  be  satisfied  with 
this.  He  ought  to  have  a  personal 
acquaintance  with  this  important 
business.  He  should  be  their  prin- 
cipal instructor  himself.  Let  every 
kind  and  every  reasonable  degree  of 
influence  be  thi'own  into  the  Sabbath- 
school,  but  do  not  entrust  to  others 
the  exclusive  care  of  immortal  minds. 
Burnish  these  jjrecwus  jeivels  icith 
your  oivn  hands.  Transfer  the  re- 
sponsibility of  training  them  up  for 
God  to  no  mortal.  None  have  a 
parent's  heart  to  feel,  none  a  parent's 
account  to  render.  And  none,  if 
they  are  what  they  ought  to  be,  can 
do  this  work  so  well. — Todd. 


142. 


John  Milton  says, — 


"  The  childhood  shows  the  man, 
As  morning  shows  the  day.'* 

It  would  be  well  if  this  were  a  com- 
mon proverb,  for  a  truer  maxim 
could  not  be  spoken.  It  is  because 
this  is  a  fact  which  every  one's  ob- 
servation confirms,  that  the  exhorta- 
tion and  command  of  the  Scriptui-e 
are  so  important.  The  Bible,  from 
which,  as  well  as  from  observation, 
Milton  got  his  maxim,  says,  ''  Train 
up  a  child  in  the  way  he  should  go ; 
and  when  he  is  old  he  will  not  depart 
from  it."  Is  my  reader  ready  to 
interpose  the  remark  that  some  good 
people  have  very  bad  children,  while 
some  very  bad  people  have  good  chil- 
dren ?  If  you  ask  how  this  agrees 
with  the  Scripture,  I  answer.  When 
careless  and  wicked  people  have  good 
and  pious  children,  this  shows  what 
God  sometimes  does  for  children,  in. 
spite  of  their  parents.  God  can  reach 
any  case,  and  sometimes  He  shows 
what  His  grace  can  do  for  the  neg- 


lected ones  whom  bad  exampleswould 
lead  to  ruin.  And  with  regard  to 
Christian  parents  whose  children  are 
wayward  and  disobedient,  nothing 
else  than  this  can  with  truth  be  said, 
their  training  must  have  been  defec- 
tive. If  parents  are  faithful,  God 
will  keep  their  children  out  of  the 
paths  of  foUy  and  iniquity.  The 
neglect  of  parental  duties  is  followed 
by  corresponding  consequences  almost 
invariably.  It  is  no  matter  of  sur- 
prise, then,  that  so  many  men  and 
women  are  what  we  find  them,  when 
so  many  children  are  either  altogether 
neglected,  or  receive  training  that  is 
so  deficient.  It  is  no  wonder  that 
the  state  of  society,  even  in  this 
highly  favoured  land,  is  so  bad,  when 
everywhere  multitudes  of  children, 
instead  of  being  well  brought  up,  are 
left  to  come  up  amidst  the  evil  in- 
fluences around  them  as  best  they 
ean.  Thousands  of  children  grow  up 
with  little  more  care  and  attention 
than  the  brute  creatures  receive. 
Many  Christian  parents  sadly  neglect 
the  duties  which  they  owe  to  their 
childi'en.  They  do  not  bring  them 
up  in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of 
the  Lord,  and  they  cannot  reasonably 
expect  that  they  will  become  Chris- 
tians. The  minister  and  the  Sabbath- 
school  teacher  cannot  take  the  place 
of  the  parent.  Without  the  co-opera- 
tion of  parents  others  can  do  very 
little.  On  the  other  hand,  with  the 
assistance  and  encouragement  of 
parents,  others  can  do  very  much. 
Children  must  have  proper  training 
at  home,  if  parents  expect  them  to 
become  either  good  citizens  or  Chris- 
tians. A  far  greater  responsibility 
rests  upon  fathers  and  mothers  than 
many  people  think.  The  Bible  teUs 
us  plainly  of  their  great  responsi- 
bility.—^o/com&. 

143.  Mistake  of  Parents.— TAaj^ 
children  who  go  to  the  Sabbath-school 
do  not  need  so  careful  instruction  at 


STTNDAY   SCHOOL  WORLD. 


35 


home.  It  is  far  from  being impro'bable 
tliat  the  Day  of  Judgment  will  reveal 
the  names  of  many  who  with  the  lips 
favonred  Sabbath-schools,   and  sent 
their  children  to  them  for  the  very 
purpose  of  throwing  off  the  trouble 
and  responsibility  of  religiously  in- 
structing them  at  home.    ' '  I  need  not 
talk  with  my  child  on  the  Sabbath 
on  the  subject  of  religion ;    I  need 
not  try  to  bring  his  conscience  under 
the    light    of   the   Bible ;      I  need 
not  endeavour  to   gain   his   roving 
attention  with  the  view  of  fixing  his 
thoughts  on  Grod  and  eternal  things ; 
especially  I  need  not  give  him  the 
opportunity  to  say  by  his  looks,  '  My 
father,  1  do  not  see  you  bearing  this 
holiness  and  showing  it  in  your  life, 
though  you  urge  it  upon  me  and  pro- 
fess it  yourself ; '  I  need  not  take  him 
alone   and  pray  for  him,   and   over 
him,  because — he  goes  to  the  Sabbath- 
school.     I  am  careful  to  have  him  go 
constantly,  and  he  is  there  instructed 
in  religion.     If  I  also  teach  him,  he 
will  hear  so  much  about  religion  that 
he  will  be  disgusted."     Such  is  the 
language  of  the  heart,  while  the  child 
is  turned  away  from  the    father's 
table,  and  sent  to  iind  bread  at  the 
hands  of  strangers.     Alas !  for  such 
cruelty.     God  has  laid  duties  upon 
parents  which  they  can  neither  throw 
off  nor  delegate  to  others.     The  Sab- 
bath-school  was    designed   to    co- 
operate with  parents,  to  aid  them  in 
training   their   children   up  for  the 
service  of  God  on  earth,  and  for  the 
rewards  of  this  service  in  heaven. — 
Todd. 

144.  Pious  Parents. — Children 
who  have  praying  mothers  are  highly 
favoured,  and  are  under  most  weighty 
obligation  to  God.  We  sometimes 
see  children  that  have  been  brought 
up  by  irreligious  parents,  converted 
and  become  exemplary  Christians. 
They  are  as  brands  plucked  out  of 
the  burning.     But  wil  it  not  be  sad 


if  children  nurtured  in  the  lap  of 
piety,  accustomed  from  infancy  to 
the  voice  of  prayer  and  praise,  should 
continue  in  sin  and  lose  their  souls  ? 
If  they  perish,  theirs  will  not  be  the 
doom  of  common  sinners.  It  is 
dreadful  to  perish  under  any  circum- 
stances ;  but  to  be  lost  in  spite  of  a 
mother's  faithful  instructions,  tender 
entreaties,  lovely  example,  importu- 
nate prayers,  and  burning  tears,  will 
ffU  the  cup  of  woe  to  the  brim. 

145.  Parental  Thonghtlessnessi 
— A  little  boy,  in  America,  was  some 
time  ago  taken  ill,  and,  being  near 
death,  he  addressed  his  mother  on 
the  privileges  he  had  enjoyed  in  his 
S.  S.,  which  had  led  to  his  conver- 
sion to  God.  She  had  never  attended 
to  the  salvation  of  her  own  soul,  nor 
had  she  been  concerned  for  his 
spiritual  interests.  As  she  smoothed 
his  dying  pillow,  he  said,  "Oh, 
mother,  you  never  taught  me  any- 
thing about  Jesus;  and  had  it  not 
been  for  the  S.  S.  teachers,  I  should 
now  be  dying  without  a  hope  in 
Him,  and  must  have  been  lost  for 
ever." —  JVhitecross. 

146.  S.  S.  Supplementary  to 
Parental  Teacliing. — There  is  needed 
for  the  best  instructed  all  the  addi- 
tional facts  of  provision  which  our 
Sunday-schools  have  given  us — not 
to  supplant,  but  to  supplement,  do- 
mestic teaching,  and  the  care  and 
nurture  of  a  Christian  home.  And 
the  wisest  Christian  parents  now 
fully  understand  this.  The  attempt 
to  create  a  rivalrv  or  antagonism 
between  parental  d!omestic  teaching 
and  the  teaching  of  the  Sunday- 
school,  is  evidence  to  us  only  of 
ignorance  of  the  subject.  The  one 
may  give  the  advantages  of  solitary 
religious  teaching.  The  other  alone 
engrafts  upon  this,  and  adds  to  this 
the  social  benefits  and  opportunities 
of  pleasant  religious  relations  and 


36 


sujSday  school  woeld. 


religious  influences  in  association. — 
Dr.  Tyng. 

147.  How  the  S.  S.  aids  the 
Parent. — Education  in  the  Sabbath- 
school  is  conducted  in  a  more  concen- 
trated manner;  a  juster  economy 
of  time  and  attention  is  secured  ; 
whilst,  from  its  being  carried  on 
among  many  associates,  the  principle 
of  competition  is  awakened  ;  the 
best-educated  youth  will  profit  from 
its  discipline ;  the  most  cultivated 
method  of  teaching  is  not  here  mis- 
placed. The  Sabbath-school  system 
would  carry  the  religious  education 
of  our  highest  families  to  a  precision 
and  a  firmness,  which,  to  speak 
leniently,  it  has  not  yet  approached. 
And  in  the  Sabbath- school,  as  in  an 
institution  beyond  the  partialities 
and  interruptions  of  the  household, 
amidst  the  generous  and  inciting 
passions  of  a  collegiate  emulation, 
might  our  children  command  a  pro- 


sort  of  knowledge — the  knowledge 
of  God  and  of  Christ  and  of  things 
Divine,  to  which  we  have  just  now 
been  referring.  The  laws  of  matter, 
the  discoveries  of  Newton,  the  prin- 
ciples of  Aristotle,  the  teachings  of 
Seneca,  these  are  left  for  other 
schools  if  they  will  teach  them  ;  the 
S.  S.  has  to  do  with  the  Proverbs  of 
Solomon — with  the  stores  of  Mat- 
thew, Mark,  Luke,  and  John — with 
the  principles  of  Paul,  Peter,  and 
James.  The  warp  and  the  woof  of 
S.  S.  teaching  is  Divine  truth,  evan- 
gelical truth.  Give  that  knowledge ; 
give  it,  and  do  not  spare ;  throw  it 
into  the  soil  of  the  youthful  mind. 
Do  not  doubt  whether  there  shall 
come  a  retui'n ;  do  not  let  any  one 
say  that  the  principles  of  Christian 
truth  are  too  exalted  for  the  youth- 
ful mind ;  no,  the  most  important 
and  momentous  of  these  principles  are 
suited  to  the  infant  mind  itself.  Just 
as  the  young  flower  opens  its  petals 


ficiency,  and  reach  a  mastery,  that  |  in  the  midday  sun,  di-inks  in  the 
would  be  an  armour  of  light,  proof  i  solar  ray,  and  is  kissed  into  loveli 
against  the  weapons  of  infidelity, 
and  a  wing  of  immortality,  soaring 
above  the  enticements  of  the  world  ? 
Happy  homes!  when  the  Sabbath 
suidight  shall  rest  on  them!  Xo 
holy  ofiice  suspended,  no  benignant 
influence  restrained  within  their 
precincts  ;  which  shall  send  forth 
their  groups  to  the  Christian  semi- 
nary, as  well  as  to  the  Christian 
temple,  welcoming  their  return  to 
stead  and  hearth,  with  fairer  smiles 
and  fonder  blessings. — Dr.  R.  W. 
Hamilton. 


Let  us  therefore  give  our 
of  teaching. 


SUSTENTATION. 

148.  Claim  of  the  S.  S.  for  Sup- 
port— The  reason  why  S.  S.'s  have 
such  a  claim  upon  our  patronage 
and  support  is,  that  the  kind  of 
knowledge  which  they  communicate 
as  staple  knowledge  is  the  highest 


ness,  grace,  and  beauty,  so  the 
young  mind  opens  to  Divine  truth. 
Have  you  ever  read  the  story  of 
young  Josiah  ?  Have  you  ever 
read  of  Hannah  and  Sarah,  and 
Mary  ?  Have  you  ever  read  of 
persons  being  sanctified  from  the 
womb  ? 

sanction  to  this  kind 
I  do  not  see  a  probability  that  it 
will  ever  be  superseded.  Indeed, 
the  work  of  teaching  must  always 
go  on ;  it  must  go  on  from  genera- 
tion to  generation, — for  the  child  of 
the  most  godly  parent,  the  child  of 
most  illuminated  philosopher,  the 
child  of  the  most  gifted  and  sanc- 
tified minister,  the  child  of  the 
seraphic  believer,  is  born  m  igno- 
rance and  in  sin,  as  much  as  the 
child  of  the  most  ignorant  peasant, 
of  the  rudest  mechanic,  of  the 
hardiest  river  or  canal-going  man. 
There  is  no   ditt'erence,   and    there 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WOELD. 


37 


never  will  be,  even  intlie  Millennium ; 
it  will  then  be  the  same ;  children 
will  be  born  in  sin.  The  only  dif- 
ference between  them  and  now  is 
this :  that  now  conversions  are  rare 
— then  they  will  be  common;  now 
they  happen  somewhut  late — then 
they  will  happen  early  in  life ;  but 
even  in  the  Millennium  the  child 
will  be  born  in  depravity  and  igno- 
rance, and  the  work  of  teaching  must 
go  on. — Dr.  Beaumont. 


DIEEOT  EESULTS. 

14^.  Should  the  Scholar  help  to 
Support  the  S.  S.  ?~It  is  a  ques- 
tion with  many  superintendents 
whether  any  contribution  should  be 
taken  in  school  to  defray  the  current 
expenses  for  papers,  cards,  and  other 
requisites.  If  the  membership  or 
the  congregation  is  too  smaU.  pro- 
perly to  furnish  the  school,  occa- 
sional collections  may  be  made  in  it 
for  its  own  support,  but  the  princi- 
pal attention,  aU  agree,  should  be 
paid  to  benevolent  enterprises,  such 
as  domestic  and  foreign  missions, 
Sunday-school  Union,  Bible  Society, 
and  others  of  like  character.  Child- 
ren should  be  encouraged  to  give, 
and  to  make  sacrifices  in  order  to 
give.  Their  contributions  should 
be  regular  and  systematic.  If  the 
missionary  collections  are  made  but 
once  a  month,  the  superintendent 
should  give  proper  notice  at  least 
a  week  before,  and  urge  the  atten- 
tion of  the  teachers  and  scholars  to 
it.  If  the  school  is  large  enough  to 
have  both  secretary  and  treasurer, 
the  secretary  should  enter  in  his  re- 
cord the  amounts  contributed  by 
each  class,  and  the  treasurer  should 
pay  over  to  the  proper  officers  the 
several  amounts  so  contributed. — 
House's  Handhooh. 

150.  The   S.    S.   preserves  the 


Sabbath.— If  the  S.  S.  had  no  refer- 
ence to  the  ultimate  conversion  of 
the  children— if  it  did  not  look  at 
all  to  the  future  connection  of  the 
scholars  with  the  visible  Church — I 
would  still  say  to  every  parent,  and 
every  citizen,  and  every  well-wisher 
of  society,  sustain  it ;  sustain  it  by 
your  money,  counsel,  and  presence. 
Why  ?  Because  of  all  conservative 
influences  brought  to  bear  on  society 
in  the  nineteenth  century,  I  know  of 
none  greater  than  the  S.  S.  It  is  a 
weU-established  fact  that  a  man's 
physical  and  intellectual  nature  de- 
mands cessation  from  ordinary  la- 
bour one-seventh  of  his  time — that 
he  can  and  will  do  more  in  six  days, 
one  week  with  another,  for  years, 
than  if  he  were  to  work  regularly 
the  seventh  day.  It  is  just  as  fully 
established  that  what  man  needs  for 
recuperation  is  not  so  much  entire 
freedom  fi'om  physical  or  mental 
exercise,  as  a  change  to  that  kind 
that  will  meet  a  felt  want  of  his 
nature  not  met  in  ordinary  work. 
The  Sabbath-school  does  this  pre- 
cisely. It  combines,  at  once,  plea- 
sant mental  discipline  with  social 
and  moral  influences  which  have  a 
strengthening  and  purifying  effect 
on  both  body  and  mind.  But,  be- 
sides this,  leaving  out  of  view  the 
religious  element,  Sabbath-school  in- 
struction imbeds  in  the  youthful 
heart  a  system  of  morals  which  is 
acknowledged  by  all,  even  infidels, 
as  being  purer  and  more  elevating 
than  any  ever  given  to  man — a 
system  which,  accepted  and  act^d 
upon,  always  throws  a  charm  around 
the  domestic  cii^cle,  vitalises  and 
strengthens  aU  the  better  impulses 
of  our  nature,  restrains  and  controls 
our  passions,  removing  strife  and 
discord,  making  better  husbands, 
wives,  parents,  children,  and  citizens ; 
and,  because  they  do,  they  conserve, 
in  a  pre-eminent  degree,  the  interests 
of  society,  and  ought,  therefore,  to 


38 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


be  sustained  from  considerations  en- 
tirely outside  of  their  religious  bear- 
ings.— Rev.  James  F.  Chalfant. 

151 The  Sabbath  is  justly 

regarded  as  one  of  the  strongest 
bulwarks  of  our  free  institutions ; 
but  the  question  of  whether  it  shall 
be  hallowed  to  such  ends,  or  per- 
verted to  becouie  the  most  mischief 
and  corruption  breeding  of  all  the 
days  of  the  year,  will  in  many  com- 
munities be  reduced  to  the  simple 
question  as  to  whether  an  eificient 
S.  S.  shall  be  sustained  or  not  in 
these  communities.  Where  no  sin- 
gle denomination  of  Christians  is 
strong  enough  to  sustain  the  insti- 
tutions of  the  Grospel,  this  becomes 
the  only  practical  means,  not  only 
for  regular  public,  moral,  and  re- 
ligious culture,  but  is  the  only  way 
for  any  public  recognition  of  the 
claims  of  the  Sabbath  and  the  claims 
of  our  hio^her  nature. — House. 


152. 


Sunday-schools  are  pre- 


cisely those  institutions  to  which  on 
the  grounds  and  the  reasons  above 
set  forth  we  have  always  been  zeal- 
ously attached.     We  are  tempted  to 
call  them  fine  establishments :  their 
end  is  incontrovertibly  good;    their 
means    direct,    decided,    and    pure. 
Standing  on  the  very  foundation  of 
the   Sabbath    itself,    and   engrafted 
into  its  ordinances,  they  cannot,  as 
long   as  that  day  is  considered  in 
this  land  as  a  holy  day,  be  alienated 
from  its  objects  or  made  subservient 
to  human  corruptions.     Their  very 
name    designates     and     determines 
their  character ;  nor  can  they  with- 
out a  profane  absurdity  admit  any- 
thing into  their  procedure  that  does 
not  professedly  advance  the  work  of 
religion  in  the  soul.     Sunday-schools 
must  be  for   Sunday  purposes  con- 
nected with  Sunday  duties  and  dedi- 
cated to  Him  to  whom  the  Sunday, 
by  an  everlasting  proclamation  of 
Hi3  wiU,  especially  belongs.    They 


are  the  chartered  institutions  of  our 
Omnipotent  Founder,  who  ratifies 
with  the  seal  of  His  gracious  adop- 
tion whatever  man  contrives,  with 
singleness  of  heart,  for  His  glory 
and  places  under  His  protection. 
The  wise  teaching,  therefore,  of 
these  schools  we  believe  to  be  placed 
under  the  surest  guarantee ;  they 
are  under  an  implied  covenant  in 
which  God  HimseK  is  a  party,  to 
dispense  in  His  name  only  one  sort 
of  instruction — that  holy,  unam- 
biguous instruction  which  lays  the 
foundation  of  Christian  morals  in 
Christian  belief,  and  deduces  all  the 
duties,  obligations,  charities,  and 
claims  of  social  intercourse  from 
scriptural  authority." — British  He- 
view  ^  No.  31. 

153.  S.  Ss.  improve  the  Public 
Morals.— I  would  beg  to  state  to  the 
Committee,  that  fi^om  much  obser- 
vation I  am  satisfied  that  Sunday- 
schools,    if  properly  conducted,  are 
of  essential  importance  to  the  lower 
classes  of  society.      I  have  had  occa- 
sion to  inspect  several  Sunday-schools 
for  years  past,  and  I  have  particularly 
observed  the  children,  who  at  first 
came    to    the     schools    dirty    and 
ragged,    in    the    course    of    a    few 
months     have     become    clean    and 
neat  in  their  persons ;  and  their  be- 
haviour, from  my  own  observation, 
and  the  report  of  a  great  number  of 
teachers,   has   rapidly  improved:    I 
allude    to    those   schools  where  the 
teachers   are  gratuitous,  as  I  find 
that  no  persons  who  are  paid  do  the 
work  half  so  well  as  those  who  do  it 
from  motives  of   real  benevolence. 
A  large  school  which  I  frequently 
visit  in  Drury  Lane,  which  has  up- 
wards of  600  children,  has  produced 
many  instances  of  great  mental  and 
moral    improvement     amongst    the 
lower  classes  of   society.     At  this 
time  there  are  no  less  than  twenty 
chimney-sweep  boys  in  that  school, 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   -WOHLD. 


39 


■wlio,  in  consequence  of  coming  there, 
have  their  persons  well  cleaned  every 
week,  and  their  apparel  kept  in  de- 
cent order;    I  have  the  names   of 
their  masters.      Some   of  the   em- 
ployers of  those  chimney-sweep  boys 
are  so  well- satisfied  with  the  school, 
that  they  will  take  no   child  but 
what   shall  regularly  attend  it,   as 
they  find  it  greatly  improves  their 
morals  and  behaviour.     In  another 
school  in  Hinde  Street,  Marylebone, 
there     are     eleven     chimney-sweep 
boys.     Some  time  ago  when  I  hap- 
pened to  be  the  visitor  for  the  day, 
a  woman  attended  to  return  thanks 
for  the  education  her  daughter  had 
received  in  Drury  Lane  School ;    I 
inquired  whether  her  child  had  re- 
ceived any  particular  benefit  by  the 
instruction  in  the  school.     She  said 
she  had  indeed  received  much  good. 
And  I  believe  the  woman's  words 
were,   she  should  ever  have  reason 
to  bless  God  that  her  child  had  come 
to  that  school ;  that  before  her  girl 
attended  there,  her  husband  was  a 
profligate,     disorderly    man,     spent 
most  of  his  time  and  money  at  the 
public-house,     and     she     and     her 
daughter  were  reduced  to  the  most 
abject  poverty,  and  almost  starved ; 
that     one     Sunday    afternoon     the 
father    had    been     swearing    very 
much,  and  was  somewhat  in  liquor  ; 
the  girl  reproved  the  father,  and  told 
him,  from  what  she  had  heard  at 
school,    she  was   sure  it  was  very 
wicked    to   say  such  words.      The 
father  made  no  particular  reply,  but 
on  the   Monday  morning   the   wife 
was  surprised  to  see  him  go  out  and 
procure  food  for  breakfast ;  and  from 
that  time  he  became  a  sober,  indus- 
trious man.     Some  weeks  afterwards 
she  ventured  to  ask  him  the  cause  of 
the   change  in  his  character.     His 
reply  was,  that  the  words  of  Mary 
made  a  strong  impression  upon  his 
mind,  and  he  was  determined  to  lead 
a  new  course  of  life.     This  was  twelve 


months  prior  to  the  child  being  taken 
out  of  the  school,  and  his  character 
had  become  thoroughly  confirmed  and 
established.     He  is  now  a  virtuous 
man  and  an  excellent  husband.     She 
added,  that  they  now  had  their  lodg- 
ings well  furnished,  and  that  they 
lived  very  comfortably ;  and  her  dress 
and  appearance  fully  confirmed  her 
testimony.     I  have  made  particular 
inquiry  of  a  great  number  of  teachers 
who   act    gratuitously  in    Sunday- 
schools,   and  they  are  uniformly  of 
opinion  that  Sunday-school  instruc- 
tion has  a  great  tendency  to  prevent 
mendicity  in  the   lower  classes   of 
society.     One  fact  I  beg  to  mention, 
of  Henry  Haidy,  who,  when  admitted 
a  scholar  at  Drury  Lane  School,  was 
a  common  street  beggar.     He  con- 
tinued to  attend  very  regularly  for 
about  eight  years,  during  which  time 
he  discontinued  his  former  degrading- 
habits.     On  leaving  the  school  he 
was  rewarded,  according  to  the  cus- 
tom, with  a  Bible,  and  obtained  a 
situation  at  a  tobacconist's,  to  serve 
behind  the   counter.      His   brother 
was  also  a  scholar ;  afterwards  be- 
came  a   gratuitous  teacher  in   the 
same  school;  obtained   a  situation, 
and,  up  to  the  period  of  his  quitting 
London,  bore  an  excellent  character. 
— 3£r.  Butter  worth,  31.  P. 

154.  Dwell  upon  the  value 

of  Sunday-schools  to  all  the  present 
interests  of  society.  As  Britons  and 
as  Christians  you  must  love  the 
country  that  gave  you  birth;  and 
that  man  is  unworthy  to  tread  the 
son,  or  breathe  the  air,  of  England, 
who  is  insensible  to  the  blessings  of 
this  "  bright  speck  upon  the  bosom 
of  the  ocean."  Now,  if  we  love  our 
country,  we  must  desire  to  see  her 
great  amidst  the  nations  of  the  earth, 
safe  amidst  her  greatness,  and  happy 
in  her  safety.  And  who  needs  to  be 
informed,  that  wisdom  and  knowledge 
must  be  the  stability  of  her  times  ? 
Her  greatness,  her  safety,  and  her 


40 


SUNDAY   SCJIOOL   WOKLD. 


happiness,  all  rest  upon  tlie  moral 
character  of  her  population.  What- 
ever elevates  this,  exalts  the  nation. 
Next  to  the  lahoiu-s  of  an  evangelical 
ministry,  no  plan  that  ever  was  de- 
vised has  a  greater  tendency  to  im- 
prove the  religious  state  of  society 
than  the  institution  of  Sunday- 
schools. — J.  A.  James. 


155. 


A  prominent  member 


of  one  of  our  New  York  churches 
told  me  last  evening  that  Daniel 
Webster  related  to  him,  a  short  time 
before  his  death,  the  following  inci- 
dent :  He  was  visiting  Thomas  Jef- 
ferson, at  his  superb  residence  at 
Monticello,  in  the  Shenandoah  valley, 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  spots  in 
our  land  of  beauties.  Said  Mr.  Web- 
ster to  Mr.  J. :  "  What  is  to  be  the 
salvation  of  our  country  ?"  After  a 
few  moments'  thought,  said  the  deep 
tliinker :  "Mr.  W.,  this  nation  will 
be  saved  (if  saved)  by  the  training  of 
her  children  to  love  the  Saviour ;  and, 
oh !  what  a  part  the  Sabbath- school 
must  take  in  it."  This  Mr.  Webster 
cordially  endorsed. — Ralph  Wells, 


OEGAinSATIOH". 

156.  Excessive  Organisation.- — 
There  is  such  a  thing  as  form  and 
system  crushing  out  the  vital  spirit. 
There  is  also,  in  any  undertaking, 
danger  of  vitality  and  effort  being 
expended  at  great  waste,  for  want 
of  form.  Some  schools  have  doubt- 
less accomplished  great  good,  though 
conducted  with  what  at  the  present 
time  might  seem  a  lamentable  want 
of  system.  The  earnest  loving  spirit 
is  all  essential,  and  even  of  itself  will 
accomplish  much  without  auxiliaries. 
However,  when  to  the  vital  spirit  of 
loving  effort  is  joined  the  benefit  of 
judicious  system,  it  is  obvious  that 
there  is  great  gain.  When  every 
Sunday-school  teacher  feels  it  im- 


portant, though  from  a  different  rea- 
son indeed,  to  be  in  his  place,  as  the 
employer  feels  it  important  that  he 
should  be  in  his  ;  when,  as  we  have 
seen,  a  note  of  summons  from  the 
superintendent  hastens  the  departure 
of  a  teacher  from  social  enjoyment  in 
a  distant  town,  necessitating  an  earlier 
journey  home,  one  cannot  but  feel  that 
there  is  effective  system  at  work  which 
carefully  gathers  all  available  good 
that  nothing  may  be  lost.  The  more 
perfect  the  organisation,  the  greater 
the  economy  of  zeal,  which  for  want 
of  system  is  often  suffered  to  run  to 
waste.  — American. 

157.  Want  of  Agreement  as  to 
Plans. — It  will  not  be  till  far  more 
attention  has  been  paid  to  the  prac- 
tical details  of  the  system,  that  it  will 
produce  those  fruits  of  which  it  is 
capable.  The  endless  diversities  of 
teaching  and  of  discipline  which  exist 
in  each  Sunday-school,  is  evidence 
sufficient  that  its  friends  are  as  yet 
not  agreed  upon  any  uniform  method 
of  carrying  forward  the  mighty  work. 
—  Collins. 

158.  More  Thought  Needed. — 
As  yet  little  of  mind,  Httle  of  thought 
has  been  expended  on  the  Sunday- 
school  system.  Grood  men,  engaged 
in  its  practical  duties,  have  groped 
their  way  along  in  the  dark. — Todd. 

159.  Unity  of  Purpose  Needed. 
— Harmony  and  unity  of  design  are 
indispensable  ;  to  maintain  which  it 
is  advisable  to  adopt  in  each  branch 
the  same  mode  of  classification,  and 
to  use  the  same  books,  plans,  and 
rules.  The  pastor  is,  of  course,  the 
director,  president,  or  head;  each 
school,  of  course,  has  its  own  super- 
intendent, secretary,  and  teachers ; 
the  body  of  teachers,  of  course,  meet 
to  transact  business  at  stated  times  ; 
but  these  ordinary  arrangements  will 
not  suffice  to  secure  oneness  and  effici- 
ency in  all  the  varied  localities.  The 
minister  can  give  to  each  separate  spot 


SUJfDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


41 


very  little  personal  attention ;  he  is 
constrained  to  deal  mth.  the  body  as 
awhole,  and  cannot  direct  the  minntiee 
of  each  individnal  school ;  and,  as  it 
is  natural  that  each  superintendent 
and  teacher  should  thinlc  the  most  of , 
his  own  school,  deeming  its  interests 
oi  paramount  importance,  a  jealousy,  | 
an  unholy  rivalry,  is  sure  to  spring  ' 
up,  causing  division  and  contention, 
if  one  wise,  presiding  head  govern 
not  the  whole.  The  school,  the  07ie 
school,  including  parent  and  progeny, 
should  have  one  general  superinten- 
dent, secretary,  and  treasurer. — 
Davids. 

160.  S.  S.  Eules.— The  rules 
should  always  he  printed  in  a  neat 
compact  form,  and  each  teacher  and 
subscriber  supplied  with  a  copy: 
they  should  be  definite,  simple,  as 
few  in  number  and  as  short  as  pos- 
sible ;  stiQ,  they  should  clearly  state 
what  is  expected  from  each  officer, 
teacher,  parent,  and  scholar,  and  be 
strictly  adhered  to.  These  printed 
rules  should  not  be  altered,  except 
at  an  annual  or  special  meeting  of 
subscribers,  convened  for  the  purpose ; 
for  there  is  a  tendency  to  innovation 
in  some  minds,  which,  if  given  way 
to,  would  substitute  alteration  for 
improvement,  and  make  the  constant 
recurrence  of  new  measures  part  of 
the  working  of  the  school. — Davids. 


AuT.  3.  This  school  shall  open  at 

o'clock  in  the  morning,  and 

o'clock  in  the   afternoon,  and  each 
session     shall    contiuue    one    hour 

and . 

—  of  Jan- 
terms  for 


Am.  4.  On  the  first  — 
July  ,  the 


or 


161. 


Sunday-schools  usually 


adopt  a  few  plain  rules  to  govern 
them;  we  therefore  give  a  simple 
form : — 

Aet.  1.    This   Sabbath -school  is 

connected  with  the Church, 

or  shall  be  called  the Sabbath- 
school. 

Art.  2.  It  shall  consist  of  a  Su- 
perintendent, a  Secretary,  a  Libra- 
rian, and  as  many  teachers  and  scho- 
lars as  may  be  duly  received  and 
appointed.  The  usual  duties  will 
be  assigned  to  the  different  offi^cers 
of  the  school. 


uary 

which  all  the  officers  are  elected,  each 
year  shall  expire,  and  the  teachers 
shall  proceed  by  ballot,  at  such  time, 
to  elect  new  officers,  or  to  re-elect 
the  old  ones. 

Art.  5.  Strict  order  shall  be  ob- 
served, and  all  the  rules  conformed 
to,  by  every  one  connected  with  the 
school,  and  no  one  shall  leave  the 
room  until  the  close  of  the  school 
without  permission. 

Aet.  6.  The   annual  meeting,  or 
anniversary,   shall    be  held  in  the 
month  of ,  at  which  time  re- 
ports for  the  year  shall  be  made,  and 
an  address  by  the  pastor,  or  some 
j  other  person  who  may  be  invited. 
'  Quarterly  meetings  for  business,  and 
!  weekly  meetirigs  for  mutual  assis- 
!  tance  and  counsel,  and  for  the  study 
of  the  lesson,  shall  be  held  by  the 
I  teachers  and  officers. 

Aet.  7.  This  Constitution  may  be 
amended  at  any  annual  meetuig,  and 
Bye-Laws  may  be  made  or  amended 
at  any  quarterly  meeting,  by  a  majo- 
rity of  all  the  teachers. 

The  Bye-Laws  should  define  when 
and  where  teachers'  meetings,  mis- 
sionary meetings,  temperance  or 
boys'  meetings,  or  social  Christian 
gatherings  may  be  held ;  also  any 
other  necessary  objects  may  be  in- 
cluded in  the  specifications  of  Bye- 
laws. — Pardee. 

162.  Classification. — ThefoUow- 
ing  plan  of  classification  is  recom- 
mended as  the  one  most  suitable  for 
general  adoption:— 1.  The  Infant 
Division,  to  consist  of  children  from 
three  to  six  years  of  age,  who  cannot 
read.  2.  The  Elementary  Division, 
consisting   of  children  who   cannot 


42 


STJIfDAT   SCHOOL    WORLD. 


well 


enough. 


for   a   Scripture 


read 

class.     3.   The  Scripture  Division,  to 
consist  of  scholars  able  to  read  with  ] 
fluency.       4.   The    Senior   Division,  { 
consisting  exclusively  of  young  per-  I 
sons  not  under  fourteen  years  of  age. 
— Davids. 

163.  A  Eigid  Eule.—It  should 
be  known  as  a  rule  of  every  school, 
that  no  child  is  allowed  to  leave  his 
seat  until  the  school  is  dismissed; 
and  no  exception  should  be  permitted, 
except  at  the  request  of  a  teacher  to 
the  superintendent.  If  these  rules 
are  observed,  a  most  important  pre- 
paration will  be  made  for  the  duty 
of  instruction ;  they  are  simple  and 
practical.  We  venture  to  declare, 
that  no  school  which  shall  try  them 
properly  for  three  Sabbaths  in  suc- 
cession, will  be  willing  to  abandon 
them. — Packard. 

164.  Senior  Classes.  —  Senior 
classes  should  consist  of  young  per- 
sons not  under  fourteen  years  of  age, 
and  separate  class-rooms  should  be 
provided  for  male  and  female  scholars. 
There  should  be  a  selectness  about 
these  classes,  raising  them  in  the  es- 
timation of  the  scholars,  in  order  to 
induce  regular  and  continued  atten- 
dance. If  separate  class-rooms  can- 
not be  obtained,  an  unoccupied  vestry, 
a  large  pew  in  the  place  of  worship, 


165.  One  Uniform  Lesson. — Do 
you  approve  of  one  uniform  lesson 
for  the  whole  school  ?  Answer.  Yes, 
by  all  means ;  and  then  concentrate 
all  the  exercises,  the  prayers,  the 
hymns,  the  addresses,  as  weU  as  all 
the  teaching,  directly  upon  that  one 
portion,  so  that  it  will  be  impressed 
upon  all,  as  it  was  upon  a  little  boy 
who  walked  up  to  the  black-boord 
and  pointed  to  the  drawing  of  an 
altar  and  the  bleeding  lamb  upon  it, 
saying,  "  It  was  that  all  day,  wasn't 
it,  Jimmy  ?  "  Let  the  infant-class 
have  the  central  verse  for  their  les- 
son.— Pardee. 


166. 


We  know  of  two  or 


three  large  S.  Ss.  where  the  uniform 
lesson  is  studied,  and  where,  in  addi- 
tion, the  minister  selects  as  his  text 
for  the  morning  discourse  the  theme 
studied  in  the  S.  S.  The  prayer 
meeting  in  the  evening,  also,  has 
the  same  direction.  The  plan,  as  far 
as  tried,  has  worked  well.  The  unity 
of  labour  has  secured  unity  of  im- 
pression.— House'' s  liandhook. 

167.  Importance  of  Catechising. 
— The  Jewish  Eabbins  observe  a  very 
strict  method  in  the  instruction  of 
children  and  others,  according  to 
their  age  and  capacity.  At  five 
}'ears  old  they  were  called  sons  of 
the  law,  to  read  it.     At  thirteen  they 


or  a  corner  of  the  school,  separated ,  were  called  sons  of  the  precept,  to 
by  a  curtain,  and  provided  with,  a  ■  understand  the  law ;  then  they  re- 
table,  may  answer  the  purpose.  When  ceived  the  passover  as  a  sacrament, 
the  infant  and  the  elementary  classes '  for  even  children  did  eat  it,  as  a  re- 
are  so  taught  that  the  general  school-  I  membrance  of  their  deliverance  out 
room  contains  only  the  Scripture  of  Egypt.  At  fifteen  years  old  they 
division,   the    senior    scholars    may  came  to  be  Talmudists,  and  went  to 


with,  less  difficulty  occupy  a  part  of 
it.  The  subjects,  and  the  mode  of 
instruction,  in  the  senior  division  of 
the  school  should  be  adapted  to  the 
advancing  years  of  the  scholars ;  and 
all  the  proceedings  ought  to  be  so 
conducted,  that  those  connected  with, 
the  classes  may  feel  mutual  saUsfac- 
tion  in  the  engagements. — Davids. 


deeper  points  of  the  law — the  Tal- 
mudish  doubts.  Thus  did  the  Jews. 
And  let  not  Christians  lag  behind 
them  in  propagating  the  truths  of 
Jesus  Christ  their  Master.  Let  chil- 
dren be  well  instructed,  principled, 
and  catechised  in  the  fundamentals 
of  the  Christian  religion ;  for  with- 
out catechising,  the  people  perish  in 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD, 


43 


the  want  of  knowledge,  and  become 
fit  subjects  for  every  priest,  Jesuit, 
and  sectary  to  work  upon.  The 
Papists  have  confessed  that  all  the 
ground  we  have  gotten  of  them  is  by 
catechism,  and  the  little  ground  they 
have  gotten  of  us  is  by  a  more  dili- 
gent requiring  and  practice  of  it. 
In  a  word,  catechising  is  as  well  a 
family,  as  a  church  duty.  Were 
but  the  family  well  instructed,  the 
minister  would  have  less  work  to  do ; 
there  would  not  be  so  matiy  uncate- 
chised  heads,  nor  so  many  weather- 
cock Christians  as  now  are  to  be 
found  amongst  us. — Spencer. 

168.  Use  of  Catechisms.— This 
leads  me  to  take  this  opportunity  to 
answer  the  questions  so  frequently 
asked  in  Sabbath-schools,  Is  it  best 
to  teach  Catechisms  in  these  schools  ? 
Till  within  a  short  time,  catechisms 
of  all  lands  have  nearly  been  pro- 
scribed in  most  of  our  schools,  and 
the  impression  seemed  to  be  gaining 
ground,  that  they  were  to   be  laid 
aside  with  the  rubbish  of  other  times, 
with  things  and  modes,  good  perhaps 
in  their  day,  but  not  adapted  to  the 
day  in  which  we  live.     The  objection 
seems  to  be,  that  the  memory  alone  is 
cultivated  by  learning   catechisms ; 
that  the   child    cannot    understand 
them;  and  that  they  are  sectarian 
in  their  tendency.     After  looking  at 
this   subject    long,   and  in  various 
lights,  I  am  not  altogether  certain 
that  these  objections  are  not  directed 
chiefly,   if   not  solely,   against  the 
Assembly's  Shorter  Catechism  ;    and 
that  a  sort  of  tacit  compromise  has 
been  made,  that  all  catechisms  should 
be  laid  aside  for  the  sake  of  getting 
rid  of  that.     In  regard  to  the  two 
first  objections,  I  believe  they  may 
be  reduced  to  one  and  the  same :  viz., 
that  the  memory  is  burdened,  because 
the  child  does  not  comprehend  what 
he  tries  to  learn.     The   answer  to 
these  objections  is  two-fold.     First, 


that  it  is  one  very  important  part  of 
education  to  exercise  and  cultivate 
the  memory  ;  and  few  things  will  do 
it  better  or  faster  than  the  catechism. 
Secondly,  that  it  is  not  true  that 
the  child  cannot  be  made  to  under- 
stand the  catechism.  Till  within 
few  years  it  was  thought  that  a 
mere  child  could  not  be  made  to 
understand  arithmetic,  grammar,  or 
geometry.  He  was  told  to  commit 
the  rules  to  memory,  to  be  applied 
to  use  at  some  future  time.  But  all 
this  is  justly  exploded.  The  child 
of  six  years  old  can  now  be  taught 
arithmetic  on  the  plan  of  Colburn. 
It  is  only  the  substitution  of  things 
for  the  signs  of  things.  I  do  not 
believe  there  is  any  greater  difficulty 
in  teaching  a  catechism,  than  in 
teaching  many  parts  of  the  Bible. — 
Todd. 

169.  Value  of  Catechisms. — As 
if  men,  in  this  agitated  state  of  the 
world,  could  come  up,  amid  the  rock- 
ings  and  the  storms  of  the  age,  with- 
out deep,  fixed  principles  for  a  sheet- 
anchor!  The  waves  of  excitement 
already  run  high,  and  will  run  stUl 
higher ;  and  he  who  acts  as  a  teacher 
in  the  theological  school,  or  as  an 
author,  as  a  teacher  in  the  day  or 
Sabbath-school,  who  does  not  try  tc 
lay  the  foundations  of  character  on 
fixed,  definite  principles,  even  the 
everlasting  foundations  of  truth,  falls 
far  short  of  his  duty.  You  might  as 
well  neglect  to  place  anchors  in  the 
bow  of  your  ship,  as  you  send  her 
from  her  moorings,  because  she  does 
not  noiv  need  them,  as  to  neglect  to 
fix  deep  and  definite  principles  in  the 
mind  of  the  child,  because  he  has 
not  immediate  use  for  them. — Todd. 

170.  Catechetical  Instruction. — 
There  are  two  points  which  bear 
upon  this  question,  that  I  want  to 
speak  about.  The  Jli'st  is,  that  aU 
our  Sunday-schools  are  short  of  pro- 
minent lady  and  gentlemen  teachers. 


44 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


To  get  and  keep  the  larger  scliolars, 
we  want  7nen  and  women.  Let  the 
old  men  enlist  in  the  Sunday-school 
army  !  The  scholars  reverence  gray 
hairs.  The  second  thought  is  : — 
Superintendents  talk  their  schools  to 
death  ;  teachers  talk  their  classes  to 
death.  With  many  classes,  the  scho- 
lars are  never  permitted  to  answer 
one  question.  I  would  say  :  let  the 
superintendent  taUi  little ;  let  the 
class  do  the  most  of  the  talking. 
Even  if  your  talk  is  on  the  best  of 
subjects,  the  salvation  of  Jesus,  if  it 
is  all  on  your  side,  the  scholars  will 
get  tired  of  the  monopoly,  and  say  it 
is  dry  and  uninteresting,  and  refuse 
to  come  back.  "  That  was  a  ve^'y 
interesting  lesson ; "  said  a  young  man 
to  me  the  other  Sunday.  The  scholars 
had  all  ''  pitched  in !  " — that  was  the 
secret  of  it. — Thomas  Morrison. 

171.  Apparently  Useless  Know- 
ledge.— Daniel  Webster  once  told  a 
good  anecdote  in  a  speech.  When 
asked  where  he  got  it,  he  said:  "  I 
have  had  it  laid  up  in  my  head  for 
fourteen  years,  and  never  had  a 
chance  to  use  it  till  to-day."  My 
little  friend  wants  to  know  what 
good  it  will  do  to  learn  the  ' '  rule  of 
three,"  or  to  commit  a  verse  of  the 
Bible  or  the  catechism.  The  answer 
is  this :  Some  time  you  will  need 
that  very  thing.  Perhaps  it  may  be 
twenty  years  before  you  can  make  it 
lit  in  just  the  right  place.  But  it 
wiU  be  just  in  place  some  time,  and 
then  if  you  don't  have  it  you  will  be 
like  the  hunter  who  had  no  ball  in 
his  rifle  when  a  bear  met  him. 
"  Twenty-five  years  ago  my  teacher 
made  me  study  surveying,"  said  a 
man  who  had  lost  his  property ; 
"and  I  am  now  glad  of  it.  It  is 
just  in  place.  I  can  get  a  good 
situation  and  high  salary."  The 
Bible  and  catechism  are  better  than 
that.  They  will  be  in  place  as  long 
as  we  live. —  Christian  Enquirer. 


172.  Awkward  Replies.  —  The- 
Rev.  A.  B.  C.  was  paying  his  annual 
visit  to  a  school  not  a  hundred  miles- 
from  Birmingham.  It  was  some 
years  ago,  when  geography  was  much 
more  important  than  at  present.  The 
inspector  wished  to  be  told  aR  about 
the  route  to  India,  but  the  children, 
seemed  to  know  very  little  about  it. 
At  last,  in  despair,  he  asked,  "Could 
I  go  there  on  a  horse  ?  "  One  little 
fellow  promptly  answered,  ' '  No,  Sir." 
"And  why  not  ?"  said  the  inspector. 
The  boy  answered,  ' '  Please,  sir, 
because  you'd  tumble  off." 

173.  A  teacher  wishing  to 

explain  to  a  little  girl  the  manner  in 
which  a  lobster  casts  its  shell  when 
it  has  outgrown  it,  said,  "  What  do 
you  do  when  you  have  outgrown 
your  clothes  ?  You  throw  them  aside, 
don't  you  ?"  "  Oh,  no  "  replied  the 
little  one,  "  we  let  out  the  tucks  ! " 


174. 


At  a  recent  Sabbath- 


school  concert,  in  a  suburban  church, 
the  ordinance  of  baptism  was  admi- 
nistered. The  clergyman  in  charge 
expressed  gratification  that  the  occa- 
sion offered  him  so  good  an  oppor- 
tunity to  explain  to  the  children  the 
nature  of  the  service.  By  way  of 
illustration,  he  said:  "In  Old  Testa- 
ment times,  blood  was  offered  as  an 
atoning  sacrifice,  hence  it  was  spoken 
of  as  a  purifier ;  but  what  is  used  as 
an  emblem  of  purity  nowadays — 
what  element  conveys  the  idea  of 
perfect  cleanliness?"  A  moment's 
silence,  and  then  a  dozen  little  voices 
squeaked  out — "  Soap  !  " 


175. 


Recently,  a  rector  of  a 


pa,rish  in  Toledo,  Ohio,  in  catechising 
his  Sunday-school,  asked:  "Where 
did  the  wise  men  come  from  ?"  With- 
out a  moment's  hesitation  the  answer 
came  from  a  little  five-year  old: 
"  From  Boston." 

176.  An  Odd  S.  S.  Sympathiser. 
—  In  the  parish  of  G the  clergy- 


STTNDAI    SCHOOL   WOULD. 


45 


man  was  a  curate  fresh,  from  Oxford. 
As  lie  was  fond  of  children,  both 
duty  and  inclination  often  led  him 
into  the  village  school.  He  was 
almost  always  accompanied  by  three 
or  four  dogs,  which,  of  course,  the 
moment  he  opened  the  door,  rushed 
frantically  into  the  room,  to  the 
youngsters'  great  delight.  He  would, 
perhaps,  give  what  he  called  a  Scrip- 
ture lesson,  wliich  would  consist  of  a 
set  of  the  most  curious  and  disjointed 
questions  imaginable.  I  give  one  or 
two  of  his  questions  as  a  sample. 
*'  How  many  foxes  did  Samson  send 
among  the  corn  of  the  Philistines  ?  " 
' '  Who  was  Beelzebub  ? ' '  This  ques  - 
tion  he  answered  himself  by  saying, 
"  Queer  fellow,  wasn't  he  ?  "  In  fact, 
he  mostly  answered  the  questions 
himself.  He  wound  up  by  distribu- 
ting a  parcel  of  nuts  or  a  few  oranges. 
Everybody  knew  when  he  was  in 
school  by  the  watching  dogs  at  the 
door.  A  common  remark  of  the 
women  of  the  village  was, ''  Now  he's 
gone  again  to  make  the  children 
laugh."  For  all  this  he  was  one  of 
the  most  kind-hearted  of  men,  and 
tad  an  idea  that  he  did  a  great  deal 
of  work  in  the  school. 

177.  Physical  Comfort  in  S.  Ss. 
— Suificient  attention  is  not  usually 
paid  to  the  physical  organisation  of 
the  scholars.  Judging  by  arrange- 
ments, it  often  seems  forgotten  that 
a  healthy  mind  and  a  diseased  body 
rarely  unite,  and  that  we  have  no 
reason  to  expect  orderly  conduct  and 
attentive  demeanour  from  children 
who  are  enduring  bodily  discomfort 
and  suffering.  Perfectly  convenient 
rooms  we  may  be  unable  to  obtain ; 
but  the  right  perception  of  some  first 
principles  would  remedy  many  an 
existing  evil. — Davids. 


178. 


Much  depends  on  the 


physical  arrangements  in  Sabbath- 
scnools.  Bricks  and  mortar  had 
much  to  do  with  the  efS.ciency  of 


mental  and  moral  instruction. 
Good  school -rooms  ought  to  be 
provided :  there  should  be  a  sepa- 
rate room  for  the  infants ;  another 
(a  good- sized  one)  for  those  not  able 
to  read  the  Scriptures  ;  another 
large  one,  for  Bible  readers,  in  the 
addresses  to  whom  suitability  could 
there  be  studied,  and  where  order 
and  decorum  could  be  preserved. — 
Poore. 


179. 


The  securing  of  proper 


ventilation  and  temperatui-e  is  of  the 
utmost  importance :  an  over-crowded 
room,  with  a  close  and  heated  atmo- 
sphere, either  sends  the  scholars  to 
sleep,  or  makes  them  insufferably 
restless ;  while  a  freezing  school- 
room, on  a  wint€r's  morn,  seems  to 
benumb  their  faculties  as  well  as 
their  fingers.  There  should  be 
suitable  air-valves  in  every  school- 
room, so  that  the  place  may  be 
ventilated  in  winter,  without  the 
necessity  of  opening  the  windows 
during  school-hours,  as  thereby 
great  draughts  are  occasioned. — 
Davids. 


180. 


The  place  should   be 


comfortable,  attractive,  light,  airy, 
and  cheerful.  It  should  be  dry  and 
well  warmed.  The  walls  may  be 
covered  with  prints,  hymns,  and 
Scripture  mottoes;  or,  as  some  of 
our  wealthy  congregations  have 
done,  they  may  be  frescoed  beauti- 
fully with  illuminated  texts  or 
paintings  representing  Scripture 
scenes,  to  attract  the  children  to 
the  house  of  God — to  their  Sahhath 
Home.  Especial  care  should  be 
taken  that  the  seats  provided  are 
adapted  in  size,  height,  and  form 
to  all  ages  and  sizes,  from  the  little 
ones  in  the  infant  classes  up  to  the 
larger  scholars  and  the  members  of 
the  adult  classes.  The  three-sides- 
of-an-octagon  form  of  seat  is  found 
to  answer  well,  and  is  much  cheaper 
than  the  circular  seats. — Pardee. 


46 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WORLD. 


181. 


Nine    schools   out  of 


ten  are  crippled  and  injured  by  hav- 
ing their  Infant,  Reading,  Scripture, 
and  Senior  classes  all  taught  in  one 
room;  when  a  few  pounds  per 
annum  might  supply  this  defect, 
which,  in  large  schools,  is  of  itself 
almost  fatal  to  success.  We  once 
visited  a  school,  in  capital  order, 
where  instantaneous  obedience  was 
enforced,  and  the  regulations  were 
as  perfect  as  a  good  superintendent 
could  make  them;  but  there  was 
only  one  room  for  all  the  classes : 
the  simultaneous  repetition  of  the 
infants,  and  the  necessary  noise  of 
the  letter-box,  completely  inter- 
rupted the  Scripture  classes.  It 
being  a  very  hot  day,  the  infant  and 
reading  classes  were  stopped,  that 
they  might  be  supplied  with  water ; 
the  quiet  was  delightful ;  the  higher 
classes  went  on  well  for  about  ten 
minutes ;  and  when,  at  a  signal 
from  the  superintendent,  the  noise 
recommenced,  more  than  one  atten- 
tive scholar  looked  mournfully,  as 
though  thinking  why  they  might 
not  be  permitted  to  learn  in  peace 
and  quietness.  We  wondered  not, 
on  being  told  that  several  of  the 
elder  scholars  had  left,  ' '  because 
there  were  so  many  little  children 
there,  they  were  ashamed  to  come." 
The  Church  is,  surely,  bound  to 
provide  suitable  rooms  to  carry  on 
the  work  of  tuition. — Davids. 


182. 


The    Sunday-school 


room  of  the  Rev.  Henry  Ward 
Beecher's  church,  in  Brooklyn,  is 
believed  to  be  the  best,  and  is  the 
largest  in  the  country,  except  one. 
Its  appointments  are  perfect.  An 
organ,  a  piano,  and  a  melodeon 
furnish  the  music.  The  singing  is 
wonderful.  A  fountain  plays  in  the 
centre  of  the  room,  and  elegant 
paintings  adorn  the  walls.  The 
room  is  crowded,  and  additional 
Bible  classes,  which  are  needed, 
cannot  be  formed  for  want  of  room. 


183.  Arrangement  of  Rooms. — 
In  all  cases  the  rooms  should  be  as 
near  one  another  as  possible ;  for  if 
they  are  far  apart  the  number  of 
scholars  will  be  much  lessened,  as 
children  of  the  same  family  are  sent 
to  school  under  one  another's  care; 
and  the  superintendent's  trouble  will 
be  much  increased,  for  he  must  cast 
an  eye  on  all  divisions,  and  see  that 
each  teacher  does  his  duty,  although 
his  time  will  be  chiefly  spent  in  the 
division  where  the  largest  number  of 
children  are  congregated,  which  wiU 
usually  be  the  third.  In  large  schools 
it  is  almost  essential  to  have  a  sepa- 
rate superiutendent  for  the  letter-box 
classes,  as  they  are  generally  com- 
posed of  very  unruly  children,  need- 
ing restraiut  and  constant  oversight. 
— Davids. 


COLLATERAL  RESULTS. 

184.  Review  of  the  History. — 
A  review  of  these  events  will  show 
how  the  formation  of  the  Sunday- 
school  led  on  to  efforts  for  the  im- 
provement and  extension  of'  general 
education  amongst  the  people ;  thus 
necessitating  a  supply  of  reading  to 
meet  the  demand  created  by  that 
education,  and,  above  all,  compelling 
the  adoption  of  means  for  putting 
into  the  hands  of  the  people  of  this 
and  other  lands  the  Holy  Scriptures 
in  all  their  purity  and  completeness. 
—  Watson. 

185.  Origination  of  Religions 
Tract  Society. — The  extension  of 
education  amongst  the  people  thus 
commenced  by  the  establishment  of 
Sunday-schools,  and  aided  by  the 
efforts  of  Lancaster  and  Bell,  led  in 
the  providence  of  God  to  the  for- 
mation of  one  of  those  catholic  and 
useful  institutions  which  arose  about 
the  commencement  of  the  present 
century,  and  have  proved  so  great  a 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL    WOELD. 


47 


blessing.  The  institution  thus  re- 
ferred to  was  The  Religious  Tract 
Society,  which,  from  a  humble  com- 
mencement, has  attained  a  position 
of  commanding  influence.  In  one 
of  its  early  addresses  it  is  stated, 
that  "thousands  who  would  have 
remained  grossly  illiterate,  having 
through  the  medium  of  Sunday- 
schools,  been  enabled  to  read,  it  is 
an  object  of  growing  importance 
widely  to  diffuse  such  publications 
-as  are  calculated  to  make  that  ability 
an  unquestionable  privilege."  *  In 
a  subsequent  publication,  the  com- 
mittee stated,  that  * '  it  became  ne  - 
cessary  to  provide  for  the  exercise 
of  that  growing  ability  which  chil- 
dren were  rapidly  acquiring,  to  lead 
their  minds  to  subjects  calculated  to 
please  and  to  purify  them,  and  thus 
endeavour  to  convert  providential 
advantages  into  spiritual  blessings."! 

186.  Origin  of  Bible  Society. — 
Eut  a  stiU  more  remarkable,  ex- 
tensive, and  enduring  event  was 
brought  about  by  the  establisliment 
of  these  schools.  When  the  capacity 
of  reading  became  more  general,  and 
a  serious  impression  was  made  on 
the  minds  of  the  young  people. 
Bibles  were  wanted.  As  early  as 
the  year  1787,  two  years  after  the 
commencement  of  the  circulating 
schools  already  mentioned,  Mr. 
Charles  corresponded  with  the  Rev. 
T.  Scott  about  procuring  Welsh 
Bibles  for  supplying  the  wants  of 
his  countrymen.  Mr.  Scott  tried 
all  means  in  his  power,  but  eventu- 
ally failed. —  Watson. 

187.  Extension  of  Reading,  and 
Diffusion  of  Knowledge. — To  Sun- 
day-schools is  owing  that  increased 
attention  to  the  general  education 
of  the  people,  which  has  ended  in 
raising  England    from   almost    the 


*  Evang.  Mag.,  1799. 


18 


f    Origin  and  Progress  of   E.   T.  S. 
03. 


lowest  in  the  scale  to  but  one  step 
below  the  highest,  there  being  now 
1  in  7  of  her  population  in  attend- 
ance at  daily  schools.  The  increase 
in  the  number  of  those  able  to  read, 
"through  the  medium  of  Sunday- 
schools,"  as  stated  in  one  of  the 
early  addresses  of  the  Religious 
Tract  Society,  led  to  the  establish- 
ment of  that  great  and  remarkably 
useful  institution,  which  has  issued 
959  millions  of  publications  ;  while 
the  want  of  Bibles  for  the  Sunday 
scholars  of  Wales  induced  the  for- 
mation of  the  British  and  Foreign 
Bible  Society,  which  has  circulated 
70  millions  of  copies  of  the  sacred 
volume  in  whole  or  in  part.  At 
the  present  time  there  are  also 
published,  mostly  in  London,  801 
periodical  publications,  many  of 
which  have  an  enormous  circulation 
throughout  the  country.  We  are 
now  looking  merely  at  the  intel- 
lectual influence  of  this  extension 
of  knowledge,  and  in  connection 
with  it  there  has  to  be  borne  in 
mind  the  fact  that  every  Lord's- 
day,  and  on  many  other  occasions, 
there  are  nearly  300,000  teachers, 
of  various  grades  of  intellectual 
acquirement,  in  close  intercourse 
with  above  3,000,000  of  the  young 
j)eople  of  our  land. —  Watson. 

188.  S.  S.  Literature. — The  press 
has  befriended  the  Sunday-school 
system  in  many  ways.  I  now  select 
only  one  instance,  but  that  is  of  con- 
siderable importance ;  I  mean  the 
pul^lication  of  the  "Sunday-school 
Repository,"  which  commenced  in 
January,  1813.  This  valuable  work 
cannot  be  estimated,  in  reason,  at 
too  high  a  rate.  Its  contents,  from 
time  to  time,  are  calculated  at  once 
to  interest,  instruct,  and  excite.  It 
should  be  circulated  through  every 
school,  and  read  by  every  teacher. 
Already  it  has  laid  before  the  public 
a  mass  of  most  valuable  information, 


48 


StrNDAT   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


and  directed  upon  the  Sunday  insti- 
tution a  stream  of  light  which,  has 
revealed  its  magnitude  and  its  beauty 
much  more  clearly  than  they  were 
generally  seen  before. — /.  A.  James. 


189. 


It  would  be  tedious  to 


notice  in  detail  all  the  other  various 
publications  of  the  Union.  Some  of 
the  principal  and  most  influential  of 
them  have  been  recorded  in  this  and 
the  three  preceding  chapters,  and 
when  it  is  remembered,  that  during  the 
first  nine  years  of  the  Union's  exis- 
tence, its  publications  only  amounted 
to  six  in  number,  of  which  during  that 
period,  about  273,000  copies  had  been 
sold,  while  at  the  present  time,  inde- 
pendently of  all  its  other  publications, 
the  Union  is  publishing  three  period- 
icals for  scholars,  and  three  for  teach- 
ers, the  united  monthly  circulation 
of  which  amounts  to  about  250,000, 
or  an  annual  circulation  of  three 
million  copies,  it  is  impossible  to  re- 
frain from  saying,  "  What  hath  God 
wrought?"  and  from  praying  that  so 
mighty  an  instrument  for  good  maybe 
energetically  and  usefully  employed. 
Four  of  these  periodicals  are  edited 
gratuitously  by  members  of  the  Com- 
mittee, while  the  two  others,  for  which 
it  has  seemed  desirable  to  obtain  aid 
outside  the  Committee,  are  subject  to 
their  careful  revision. —  Watson. 


190.  General  Eesults  of  S.Ss.— 
The  actual  results  of  Sunday-school 
work  in  the  course  of  its  past  history 
should  be  a  subject  of  study  and 
earnest  consideration.  I  cannot 
doubt  that  its  influence  in  arrest- 
ing the  power  of  imported  evil, 
and  resulting  propagation  of  crime, 
in  oui'  country,  has  been  a  chief 
element  in  the  peace  of  the  nation, 
and  a  power  whose  extent  it  would 
be  impossible  for  us  to  trace  com- 
pletely. The  torrent  of  youthful 
debasement  and  immorality,  of 
cultivated  ignorance  and  infidelity, 
which  has  poiu'ed  in  upon  us  for 
these  many  years,  has  found  no 
agent  of  resistance  or  removal  equal 
to  this.  Millions  of  children  of  the 
poor  would  have  grown  to  maturity 
in  hopeless  depravity,  during  the 
last  twenty-five,  years  of  heavy 
immigration  of  the  toiling  popula- 
tion upon  our  scattered  people,  but 
for  the  blessed  efforts  of  our  Sunday- 
schools.  A  gracious  Providence  has 
appeared  to  prepare  our  great  re- 
ligious institutions,  all  of  which  find 
their  best  and  most  effective  contact 
with  the  people  through  the  Sunday- 
school,  as  a  special  depository  of 
the  Divine  agency  and  power  for  the 
safety  and  welfare  of  our  land  at 
this  very  time. — Tyng. 


II.  THE    SUPERINTENDENT    AND 
SECRETARY. 


INTEODUOTOEY.    * 

191.  The  S.  S.  an  Organisation. 
— Organisation  is  a  social  necessity. 
If  individuals  wish  to  act  together 
for  a  common  end  they  must  organise. 
"Without  organisation  they  ^t11  col- 
lide, "waste  their  power,  and  accom- 
plish no  good  result.  With  it  their 
action  is  united,  and  is  made  capable 
of  great  results.  Men's  instincts 
teach  them  this  necessity,  and, 
therefore,  we  see  men  everywhere 
living  and  acting  under  organisations 
of  greater  or  less  efficiency  and 
value.  In  our  own  country  society 
is  very  highly  organised.  It  is  con- 
stituted of  a  series  of  organisations 
moving  one  within  the  other.  Eke 
the  wheels  of  a  mighty  machine. 
The  great  wheel  of  our  social  organi- 
sation is  the  general  government. 
Next  to  this  comes  the  wheels  of  the 
state  governments.  "Within  these 
again  are  the  counties,  towns,  and 
districts,  xmtil  finally  we  reach  the 
unit  of  the  whole — the  family.  And 
these  wheels  all  run  for  the  order, 
safety,  and  prosperity  of  society.  In 
like  manner  society  has  its  commer  - 
cial,  manufacturing,  educational,  be- 
nevolent, and  religious  organisations, 
each  seeking  its  own  peculiar  end; 
for  every  object  they  desire  to  ac- 
complish by  imited  action  people  are 
organised.  Hence  we  find  those  who- 
wish  to  attaia  the  highest  degree  of 
personal  godliness,  and  to  promote 
the  interests  of  Christianity,  organ- 


ised into  churches.  In  the  churches, 
again,  are  persons  earnestly  seeking 
the  rapid  propagation  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion  at  home  and  in  foreign 
lands,  and  they  are  organised  into 
missionary,  tract,  Bible,  and  Sun- 
day-school societies,  "We  have  to  do 
with  the  last  of  these,  and  to  explain 
and  illustrate  the  organisation  of  a 
Sunday-school.  Thi*ee  things  are 
essential  in  every  organisation :  1.  A 
number  of  persons  desirous  of  achiev- 
ing a  specific  result.  2.  A  code  of 
rules  to  which  each  individual 
pledges  obedience.  3.  Government, 
that  is,  officers  having  authority  to 
enforce  the  rules. — Dr.  Wise. 

192.  Organising  a  School. — In 
every  neighbourhood  where  there 
can  be  gathered  together  a  dozen 
adults  and  children  combined,  a 
school  can  be  estabKshed.  For  a 
room,  a  farmer's  kitchen,  a  black- 
smith's shop,  a  barn,  or  a  grove, 
have  often  been  used,  and  can  be 
again :  I.  Tla}i  your  work.  Look 
over  your  field,  talk  with  your 
neighbours,  select  the  more  acces- 
sible and  convenient  place,  visit 
every  family,  and  see  that  every 
person,  old  and  young,  is  invited  to 
attend.  Do  all  that  you  can  to 
make  the  place  attractive  and  beau- 
tiful. Be  sui'e  that  every  one  who 
comes  shall  see  that  efforts  have 
been  made  to  make  them  not  only 
welcome,  but  happy  when  there. 
If  possible,  get  every  one  to  work  in 


50 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


some  department  for  the  good  of  the 
school.     Give   out  a  lesson  for  the 
next   Sabhath,   inyite   all  who  feel 
interested  to  remain  after  the  regular 
exercises   close,    and   consult    about 
plans  for  the  future  ;   then,  having 
recorded  the    names  of  all  present 
and  made  a  minute  of  the  session, 
close  the  school,  repeating  the  Lord's 
Prayer  in  concert.    2.  Next  organise. 
Nothing    can    be    done    without    a 
leader,    or    superintendent.     Choose 
the  person  best  qualified,  whether 
man,  woman,  or  child.     If  but  few 
are  present,  and  it  is  believed  others 
will  shortly  come  in,  elect  tempora- 
rily ;  but  as  a  rule,  those  who  start 
the  enterprise  are  best  qualified  to 
carry  it   on  till  fairly  established. 
Say,  choose  the  person  having  the 
most  faithj  most  love  for  the  young, 
and  the  best-natured  person.     Some 
lady  superiatendents  are  very  effi- 
cient and  very  successful,  and  there 
are  instances  of  children  organising 
and  directing  schools  to  a  successful 
and  blessed  issue.     Having  chosen  a 
superintendent,    never    elect    other 
officers  till  he  shall  have  been  con- 
sulted in  reference  to  them;  adjourn, 
"with  a  purpose  to  work  during  the 
week  for  the  success  of  the  school. — 
B.  F.  Jacobs. 

193.  Sunday- school  Agency. — 
The  success  of  a  Sunday-school 
depends,  under  the  Divine  blessing, 
upon  the  faithful  manner  in  which 
the  officers  and  teachers  maintain 
their  Christian  profession,  and  upon 
their  conscientious  performance  of 
those  obligations  which  they  have 
undertaken  to  discharge.  It  is, 
therefore,  desirable  to  show  the 
character  of  the  agency  employed; 
and  how  the  labour  may  be  so 
divided,  as  to  secure  the  greatest 
amount  of  efficiency  and  useful- 
ness. This  agency  is  voluntary  and 
gratuitous ;  and  its  manifold  advan- 
tages, as  applicable  to  Sunday- 
schools,     have     been     proved     by 


experience.  All  who  engage  in  this 
work  are  bound  by  sacred  principles, 
and  by  a  solemn  engagement,  to 
constant  and  punctual  attendance. 
Any  deviation  from  this  obligation 
must  occasion  inconvenience,  and 
prove  detrimental  to  the  school. 
Officers  and  teachers  should,  there- 
fore, be  procured  who  will  regularly 
attend,  as  a  matter  of  conscience^ 
and  from  a  firm  conviction  of  the 
momentous  nature  of  their  engage- 
ments. The  school  agency  may 
thus  be  divided:  1.  The  superinten- 
dent. 2.  The  secretary.  3.  The 
librarian.  4.  The  teachers. — S.  S. 
Handbooh. 

194.  Duties  of  the  Treasurer. — 
1.  To  receive  funds.  2.  To  pay  out 
moneys  as  directed  by  the  society. 
3.  To  keep  a  written  account  of  nis 
receipts  and  expenditures.  4.  To 
report  at  the  monthly  and  annual 
meetings  of  the  society.  Honesty 
and  accuracy  are  the  two  chief  qua- 
lifications of  a  good  treasurer. — Dr. 
Wise.  ^ 


SUPERINTENDENT. 

195.  A  Necessity. — In  almost  all 
communities  it  is  better  to  have  one 
mind  to  preside  and  direct,  than  to 
have  more,  if  we  can  safely  trust  so 
much  power  to  one  man.  But  as  in 
most  cases  this  power  is  in  very 
great  danger  oi  perversion  and 
abuse,  we  are  careful  not  to  delegate 
it.  The  government  of  God  is  the 
government  of  one  mind,  and  is  the 
most  perfect  conceivable.  An  earthly 
monarchy  \k,  in  theory,  the  most 
perfect  of  human  governments ;  but 
human  nature  is  too  selfish  and  too 
wicked  to  make  it  desirable  in  prac- 
tice. The  family  government  is 
that  one  presiding,  directuig  mind, 
and  as  the  power  is  not  very  liable 
to  abuse,  it  is  by  far  the  best  pos 


STJNDAT    SCHOOL   WOELD. 


51 


sible.  The  Sabbath-scliool  is  like 
it;  and  every  Sabbath-school  must 
have  one  directing,  presiding*  mind 
at  its  head. — Todd. 


196.  Difficulty  of  Getting  a  Good 
One. — It  is  slow  work  to  educate  up 
a  superintendent.  The  most  of  them 
never  gain  a  correct  appreciation  of 
the  S.  S.  work  and  power,  or  of  their 
own  official  duties,  and  consequently 
they  deaden  the  school  and  hinder 
the  teachers,  instead  of  quickening 
and  helping  them.  A  fine  personal 
appearance  and  position,  a  free  and 
easy  style  of  reading,  and  talking, 
and  prajdng,  are  not  the  great 
qualifications  for  a  S.  S.  superinten- 
dent. The  S.  S.  will  almost  invari- 
ably decline  to  the  low  stand-point 
of  the  incompetent  superintendent. 
iNot  an  office,  methinks,  in  the  whole 
Chiu'ch  of  Christ,  except  that  of 
pastor,  requires  so  much  piety, 
knowledge,  devotion,  tact,  and 
common  sense,  as  that  of  S.  S. 
superintendent,  and  good  ones  must 
be  more  than  doubled. — Pardee. 

197.  l&Q  Fixed  Model. — There  is 
no  one  style  of  man  that  can  be  set 
np  as  a  model.  There  are  men  of 
widely  difierent  abilities  that  succeed 
in  S.  S.  work.  Do  not  argue  that 
because  a  man  is  not  like  your  ideal 
man — the  model  superintendent  that 
you  have  mind — therefore  he  will 
never  do. — Edward  Eggleston. 

198.  His  Influence  on  the  S.  S. — 
The  whole  character  and  influence  of 
a  Sabbath-school  will  depend  largely 
upon  the  character  and  adaptedness 
of  the  superintendent.  What  the 
superintendent  of  a  railroad,  or  the 
superintendent  of  a  factdi-y,  or  the 
commander  of  an  army  is,  each  in 
his  place,  so  is  the  superintendent  to 
his  Sabbath-school.  It  is  not  every 
truly  good  and  pious  man,  nor  even 
every  talented  or  eloquent  man,  who 
will  make  a  good  superintendent  of 
a    Sabbath- school.     Sometimes    the 

D 


modest  and  retiring  person,  who 
shrinks  from  the  acceptance  of  so 
holy  an  office,  makes  the  best  super- 
intendent. Neither  is  it  always 
the  wisest  or  most  influential  man 
whom  the  office  wants,  but  the  one 
who  can  the  most  readily  command 
the  confidence  and  co-operation  of  the 
pastor,  parents,  and  church  members, 
as  well  as  the  teachers  and  the  chil- 
dren. Of  course,  the  hest  man  in 
the  church,  next  to  the  pastor,  should 
always  be  prayerfully  called  to  the 
office,  for  it  is  difficult  to  raise  a 
Sabbath-school  higher  than  its  super- 
intendent.— Pardee. 


199. I  mean  the  character 

and  qualifications  of  a  suitable  super- 
intendent.   Everything  in  the  actual 
management  of  the  work  must  de- 
pend upon  him.     His  power  must  be 
supreme.     He  is  the  executive  officer 
of  the  little  community,  and  how- 
ever appointed,  whether  by  the  pas- 
tor, or  the  church,  or  the  teachers, 
or  be  himself  the  pastor,  he  must  be 
obeyed  simply  and  implicitly  in  all 
the  business  of  the  school  in  actual 
session.     He  has  no  time  to  discuss 
questions  there  with  any  one.     JSTot 
even  the  authority  which  has  con- 
stituted him  can  be  permitted  there 
to  interfere  with  the  work  intrusted 
to  him.     He  must  designate  and  ap- 
point  the  work   and   classes   of  the 
teachers.   If  teachers  fail  in  efficiency 
or  duty,  the  power  of  arresting  the 
evil  must  be  in  his  hands.     And  in 
the  whole  management  and  order  of 
the  operation  in  actual  work,  a  clear 
and  conceded  supremacy  must  be  in 
his  person.     Any  other  view  of  liis 
rights  and  station,  with  the  entire 
absence  of  means  of  mere  physical 
control,  would  convert  the  school  in- 
to a  mob.     And  in  selecting  a  super-, 
intendent,  this  whole  view  of  power 
and   responsibility  must  be   clearly 
and  fully  met.     You  cannot  doubt, 
therefore,   that    the    superintendent 
must  be  a  person  of  very  advanced 
2 


52 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


and    positive    qualifications.  —  Dr. 
Tijng. 

200.  Selection. — Get  tlie  best, 
we  say  again.  Let  this  be  the  only 
consideration.  Do  not  select  a  man 
"because  yon  think  it  will  please  him. 
Do  not  elect  a  man  to  the  snperin- 
tendency  as  a  reward  for  faithful 
services.  Especially  do  not  elect  any 
one  because  you  think  he  will  be 
hurt  if  not  elected.  Better  hiu't  any 
man  rather  than  hurt  the  school. 
The  very  fact  that  a  man  is  disposed 
to  exact  his  election,  is  the  best  pos- 
sible proof  of  his  unfitness.  Seek 
only  to  get  the  best  material  you 
can  have.  It  is  not  always  the  most 
forward  man  that  will  do  best.  As- 
surance is  not  essential  to  success  in 
Sunday-school  work. — Edward  E(j- 
gleston, 

201.  Defective  School  Manage - 
ttient. — Yery  much  of  the  comfort 
and  not  a  little  of  the  success  of  a 
teacher's  labours  will  depend  upon 
the  management  of  the  school  in 
which  he  is  engaged.  If  there  be  a 
want  of  discipline  so  that  disorder 
and  confusion  prevail ;  if  an  absence 
of  harmony  in  devising  or  carrying 
out  plans  on  the  part  of  the  officers ; 
if  the  superintendent  be  a  hasty, 
impetuous  man,  ever  varying  ms 
methods,  and  acting  without  regard 
to  the  wishes  and  feelings  of  his 
teachers,  many  Avill  lose  their  in- 
terest, and  ultimately  retire.  Fre- 
quent changes  in  the  officers  of  the 
school  will  exert  an  injurious  in- 
fluence likewise  upon  the  stability  of 
the  teachers.  As  like  produces  like, 
so  will  the  presence  from  year  to 
year  of  a  loving  and  sympathising 
superintendent,  never  absent  from 
his  post,  ever  ready  to  aid  by  his 
advice,  and  at  the  same  time  ready 
to  welcome  suggestions  from  his 
teachers,  tend  to  secure  a  regular 
supply  of  faithful  labourers.  If  the 
history  of  our  schools  could  be  traced, 


we  are  convinced  that  a  close  connec- 
tion would  be  found  to  exist  between 
the  faithful  and  continuous  discharge 
of  duty  on  the  part  of  officers,  and 
the  like  discharge  of  duty  on  the 
part  of  teachers. —  W.  Cidverwell. 

202.  Election. — We  had  much 
rather  trust  this  election  to  the 
teachers  than  to  anyone  else.  They 
will  judge  more  soberly  than  the 
mass  of  the  school  (besides,  an  elec- 
tion is  an  unmitigated  evil  in  the 
school).  They  are  better  judges  than 
any  church  authority  can  be.  The 
qualifications  of  a  superintendent  are 
so  peculiar  that  we  can  trust  none  so 
well  as  those  who  are  in  the  work  to 
select  a  leader. — Edicard  Eggleston. 

203.  To  the  S.  S.  Snpefintendent 
on  his  Election. — May  I  say  a  few 
things  frankly  to  you  ?  In  the  first 
place,  you  have  now  the  highest 
motive  for  living  near  to  Christ. 
Your  success  dejjends  chiefly  on  this. 
Go  into  your  school  next  Sunday  and 
look  aroimd.  Yoiu'  spirit  will  be  the 
spirit  of  the  school.  If  you  are  in- 
different in  your  treatment  of  sacred 
things,  so  will  these  teachers  be.  If 
yoiu*  heart  is  not  near  to  Christ,  this 
school  will  be  cold,  and  dull,  and 
barren.  Look  at  the  upturned  faces. 
Look  down,  even,  into  the  upturned 
hearts  that  are  watching  you.  If 
you  were  nearer  to  Christ  what 
might  you  not  do  ?  By  these  souls 
committed  to  your  care,  by  these 
te'achers,  who  will  not  be  more  in 
earnest  than  you  are,  by  the  judg- 
ment seat  of  Christ,  hy  eternity  itself , 
I  beseech  you  be  a  better  Christian 
man  than  you  are.  Do  not  affect 
piety.  If  there  is  any  abomination 
in  the  world  it  is  the  superintendent 
who  ''puts  on"  pious  ways.  It  is 
hypocrisy.  Even  if  you  do  it  from 
mere  desire  to  be  impressive,  it  is 
cant.  Children  see  through  it.  It 
repels  them.  Away  with  your  pious 
tone  and  precisely  solemn  face,  and 


ST7NDAT   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


prayer-meeting  phrases.  These  chil- 
dren are  not  to  be  impressed  with 
sounding  brass.  They  penetrate  the 
sham,  and  if  they  do  not,  God  does. 
But  the  children  do,  and  all  un- 
natural mouthings  makes  then  hate 
the  religion  that  you  burlesque.  Do 
not  say  that  the  responsibility  is  too 
great,  and  that  you  will  resign.  No 
more  shallow  deceit  does  Satan  palm 
off  upon  us.  You  cannot  shirk  resi^on- 
sihility.  Go,  bury  your  talent  in  a 
napkin,  and  then  tell  the  Judge  all 
that  hypocritical  stuff  about  your 
being  afraid  of  responsibility.  How 
terrible  will  your  cowardice  look  to 
you  in  the  day  of  judgment.  But 
feel  your  accountabifity  none  the  less. 
Cry  out,  with  Paul,  * '  Who  is  suffi- 
cient for  these  things?"  Let  the 
sense  of  your  own  weakness  over- 
whelm you.  Let  the  burden  of  souls 
rest  upon  you.  Carry  it  in  your 
devotions.  Let  it  lie  down  with  you 
upon  your  bed.  Let  the  picture  of 
taese  upturned  eyes  and  hearts  never 
leave  you.  But  do  not  let  them 
drive  you  from  your  work.  Let 
them  drive  you  to  Christ.  The  same 
Paul  who  said,  ''Who  is  sufficient 
for  these  things?"  said  also,  "Our 
sufficiency  is  of  God."  I  plead  for  a 
t  ^  more  profound  and  tender  piety  in 
^'  superintendents.  You  may  have  a 
large  school  without  it.  You  may 
have  a  good  pic-nic  without  it.  You 
may  have  order  without  it.  You 
may  have,  even,  well-learned  lessons 
without  it.  But  the  truest,  highest, 
most  Chi'istian-like  success  you  can- 
not '  have  unless  you  have  more  of 
Christ  in  your  heart.  I  can  go  into 
school  when  you  are  away,  and  know 
just  what  sort  of  ji^.nian.  you  are. 
There  is.  an  aroma  of  a  good  superin- 
tendent.*^ ii.  "sotrig  schools.  But  in 
others  there  is  life,  and  order,  and 
outward  prosperity,  but  there  is  no 
feeling  of  Christ's  presence  in  His 
word.  The  observer  feels  that  there  i 
is  a  sttgerintettdent,  who  either  do^s  \ 


:  not  live  near  to  Christ,  orl 

i  to  make  his  Christian  spii 

I  the  school.   As  the  superinta 

;  so   are  the   teachers.     If  Lunsr^is" 

j  vividly  present  in  his  prayers  and 

!  other  exercises,  if  he  feels  the  presence 

[  of  God  in  His  Word,  then  will  the 

teacher  teach  thus,  and  the  scholar 

I  study    in    the    same    spirit.      The 

:  atmosphere  through  which  a  scholar 

j  will  regard  the  Scriptures  for  all  the 

rest  of  his  life  is  often  fixed  by  his 

teacher's  way  of  teaching,  and  that 

is,  very  generally,  the  reflection  of 

the    superintendent's   spirit.      Very 

earnestly  have  I  spoken,  but  I  have 

spoken,    also,  very  humbly — for   I, 

also,   am   a  superintendent,    and  I 

would  not  press  these  things  upon 

your  conscience  any  more  closely  than 

upon  my  own. — Edward  Eggleston. 


G-ENEEAL  QUALIPIOATIOUS. 

His  sympathy  for  youth  and  faith 
in  childhood  must  irresistibly  attract 
to  him  young  and  old  alike,  yet  his 
devotion  and  respect  for  the  Master's 
cause  forbid  undue  familiarity.  His 
consecration  to  the  work  leading  him 
to  frequent  surrender  of  time,  con- 
venience, personal  ease,  social  fes- 
tivities, business  arrangements,  and 
often  to  the  expending  of  money  and 
labour,  will  speak  more  than  mere 
words  can  do  of  his  estimate  of  the 
Sabbath  school  as  an  evangelizing 
agency,  and  prevent,  upon  the  part 
of  both  officers  and  scholars,  any  dis- 
position to  make  the  school  a  mere 
means  of  pastime  or  entertainment. 
The  immediate  conversion  of  the  im- 
penitent, and  the  training  for  Jesus 
of  those  converted,  he  will  thus,  by 
example  joined  to  precept,  make  the 
prominent  and  paramount  object  of 
his  school.  Any  lower  standard  than 
this  he  will  make  all  to  feel  is  trifl- 
ing with  sacred  things,  and  a  dese- 


:^W 


;-•/  r->' 


54 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL    WOELD. 


cration  of  God's  holy  day.  His  ex- 
ecutive talent  must  secm-e  tlie  order 
and  discipline  of  a  man-of-war,  while 
his  facility  in.  securing  the  co-opera- 
tion of  others,  and  of  imbuing  them 
with  his  own  spirit,  more  than  com- 
pensate for  the  absence  of  the  rules  and 
regulations  of  the  department.  His 
knowledge  of  the  principles  and  prac- 
tice of  teaching  must  enable  him  to 
instruct  the  teachers  in  the  most 
forcible,  effective,  and  engaging- 
methods  of  presenting  truth  to  their 
young  and  plastic  charge.  By 
reason  of  his  spirit  of  enterprise  he 
will  keep  pace  with  all  advances  in 
the  Sabbath- school  cause,  of  which, 
of  late,  it  is  showing  itself  so  prolific, 
and  will  suffer  no  opportunity  to  pass 
unimproved  of  having  his  school 
creditably  represented  in  all  appro- 
priate bodies.  Ripe  Christian  expe- 
rience must  make  him  a  suitable 
counsellor  of  the  young,  and  bring 
him  into  close,  confidential,  and 
tender  sympathy  with  all  who  seek  or 
receive  his  encouragement.  His 
reputation,  as  far  as  possible,  should 
be  without  aspersion,  and  his 
character  such  that  the  associa- 
tion of  his  name  with  the  school 
shall  be  to  the  community  a  favour- 
able recommendation,  and,  with  the 
Divine  blessing,  a  tojien  of  its  success 
and  fidelity  to  the  great  purposes  of 
its  organisations.  His  relations  with 
his  pastor  should  be  of  the  most  inti- 
mate and  confidential  nature,  that 
all  may  be  done  in  entire  harmony 
with  the  pidpit,  God's  appointed 
means  of  briaging  the  world  to 
Christ.  He  must  needs  be  a  man 
living  in  constant  communion  with 
the  blessed  Saviour,  to  whose  glory 
his  life  is  consecrated ;  for,  without 
His  blessing,  human  nature  is  inade- 
quate to  the  sublime  responsibilities 
of  this  position.  He  must  be  one 
who  has  learned  to  govern  himself, 
and  who,  in  the  midst  of  circum- 
stances most  perplexing,  can  remain 


tranquil  and  composed.  It  is  thought 
the  standard  is  too  high,  and  cannot 
be  attained?  It  is  no  higher  than 
the  cause  deserves,  and  the  work 
demands.  By  God's  grace,  it  is 
attainable  ;  mthout  His  blessing  the 
ablest  human  instrumentality  is  but 
a  sounding  brass  or  a  tinkling  cym- 
bal. All  things  are  possible  to  nim 
that  believeth.  *'  Not  by  might,  nor 
by  i)ower,  but  by  My  Spirit,  saith  the 
Lord  of  hosts."  "Except  the  Lord 
build  the  house,  they  labour  in  vain 
that  build  it."  Let  every  superin- 
tendent remember  the  words  of 
Moses,  ^'  If  Thy  presence  go  not  with 
me,  carry  us  not  up  hence." — Philip 
G.  Gillett^  M.D.j  Jacksonville y  Hl.y 
U.S. 

204.  Superintendent — a  Teacher, 
and  more. — The  superintendent  needs 
to  be  all  that  the  teacher  is — and 
something  more.  If  a  person  were  to 
undertake,  therefore,  to  describe  a 
good  superintendent,  one  way  would 
be,  fii'st,  to  give  all  the  particulars 
necessary  to  a  good  teacher,  and  then 
give  the  additional  requirements 
needed  in  the  superintendent.  As  it 
is  my  piu-pose  to  say  something  here- 
after in  regard  to  the  qualifications 
of  teachers,  in  the  few  remarks  now 
to  be  made  respecting  the  superinten- 
dent, I  shall  limit  myself  to  those 
things  which  he  needs  besides  being  a 
good  teacher*.  I  shall  assume  that 
he  is  pious,  prayerful,  patient,  punc- 
tual, persevering,  and  the  like.  To 
speak  of  these  things,  in  describing 
a  superintendent,  is  no  more  neces- 
sary than  it  would  be,  in  describing 
a  physician,  to  say  that  he  must  be 
a  man.  A  person  may  be  very  good, 
and  even  a  good  teacher,  without 
being  a  good  superintendent. — Dr. 
Hart. 

205.  The  Superintendent  a  Con- 
stitutional Euler. — The  superinten- 
dent should  have  good  executive, 
business  talents,   energy,   persever-- 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    "WOELD. 


55 


ance,  self-control,  tact  to  govern,  a 
love  for  children,  devotion  to  the 
cause,  a  warm,  sympathetic  heart,  a 
life-like,  serious,  yet  cheerful  man- 
ner, and — super-added  to  humble, 
ardent  piety — an  ability  to  thiiih, 
and  to  set  others  to  thinking,  and 
withal,  he  should  be  able  to  express 
himself  clearly,  briefly,  and  forcibly. 
He  should  never  allow  the  least 
harsh  or  irritable  expression  to  es- 
cape from  him,  and  he  should  repress 
every  symptom  of  lightness,  stiffness, 
or  discoui'agement,  remembering  that 
his  look  and  manner  will  give  tone  to 
the  whole  school.  He  should  know 
personally,  and  by  name,  and  as  far 
as  may  be,  the  particular  character 
of  every  teacher  and  pupil  in  the 
school ;  speak  to  them,  and  always 
treat  them  with  confidence  and  re- 
spect— neither  too  coldly,  nor  too 
familiarly — and  assure  them  each  of 
his  2J6fso7ial  interest  in  them,  and 
respect  for  them  all.  He  should  be 
wise  to  discern,  select,  and  adjust 
proper  teachers  to  their  places,  clas- 
sify and  arrange  the  scholars,  and  in 
these  things  he  should  not  be  over- 
borne in  his  judgment.  He  is  usually 
chosen  by  the  teachers  annually,  and 
will  do  well  to  take  them  for  his 
counsellors,  and  often  consult  them, 
coUectively  and  individually ;  for 
while  he  is  the  superintendent,  the 
head  of  the  school,  and  as  such  a 
cheerful  obedience  should  be  tendered 
to  him  by  all,  yet  he  is  not  the 
sovereign.  His  authority  is  not  ma- 
gisterial nor  parental,  but  he  is  a 
constitutional  ruler,  governed  himself 
by  the  rules  of  the  school ;  and  he 
should  so  rule  that  no  one  should 
ever  question  his  right  to  govern. 
He  should  never  even  speak  of  his 
"  rights." — Pardee. 

206.  The  Successful  Superinten- 
dent.— He  is  a  good  superintendent, 
and  therefore  successful.  A  man  of 
intelligence,  and  of  some  degree  of 


information.  He  was  not  elected, 
because  of  his  being  a  judge,  an 
elder,  a  deacon,  or  a  bank  president, 
nor  because  he  is  the  oldest,  the 
youngest,  the  most  popular,  or  the 
best-looking  man  in  the  church.  The 
teachers  chose  him  because  of  his  fit- 
ness for  the  duties  of  the  office. 
When  he  was  elected,  he  did  not 
consume  half  an  hour  of  the  precious 
time  of  the  meeting  in  poor  apolo- 
gies and  regrets  at  not  being  able 
"to  perform  in  a  proper  and  satis- 
factory manner  the  laborious  and 
responsible  duties  of  the  high  station 
and  important  position  in  which,  by 
their  unanimous  and  most  compli- 
mentary action  they  had  placed  him.'* 
Nor  did  he  suggest  (aU  the  while 
meaning  to  accept)  that  Mr.  Fidgety, 
Mr.  Heavy,  or  one  of  the  other  can- 
didates who  did  not  get  a  single  vote, 
could  fill  the  office  better  than  he 
could.  He  went  at  it  like  an  honest 
man  and  a  Christian.  Eegularly 
and  with  punctuality  has  he  perse- 
vered in  the  work.  He  keeps  sound 
overshoes  and  a  good  unbrella,  and- 
is  not  compelled  to  stay  at  home  on 
rainy  days.  You  can  set  your  watch 
by  his  opening  and  dismissal  of  the 
school.  He  does  not  forget  that  the 
whole  body  of  teachers,  old  and  young 
will  come  late-if  he  is  late,  and  that 
if  he  is  punctual  they  will  all,  ex- 
cepting two  or  three  incorrigibly 
heedless  ones,  be  punctual  too. ; When 
he  arrives  at  school,  it  is  understood 
that  he  has  come  with  a  definite  pur- 
pose, and  not  to  let  things  straggle 
along  the  best  way  they  can.  With 
courteous  firmness  he  goes  about  the 
business  of  the  school.  He,  as  plea- 
santly as  possible,  corrects  what  is 
wrong,  according  to  the  best  of  his 
ability.  By  some  apparent  magic  he 
smooths  down  the  crusty  teacher, 
and  quiets  the  turbulent  one.  He 
has  succeeded  in  bringing  to  naught 
the  plans  of  Mr.  Books,  the  librarian, 
who  in  two  years  had  invented  fif- 


56 


STJITDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


teen  new  ways  of  keeping  tlie  library, 
each  worse  than  its  predecessor.  He 
has  quieted  Mr.  Whimsick,  the  sing- 
ing man,  who  bought  all  the  new 
flash  tune  books  as  soon  as  published, 
and  insisted  that  the  school  should 
sing  them  all  through.  And  yet  he 
keeps  all  these  people  in  a  good 
humour.  The  boys  and  girls  love 
him,  even  if  he  is  a  pretty  strict  dis- 
ciplinarian. They  Imow  that  if  they 
are  good  scholars,  discipline  will  not 
"be  exercised  on  them.  He  is  neat  in 
his  ways.  You  can  examine  the 
record  of  the  school  since  his  election, 
and  find  a  well-kept  and  correct  his- 
tory of  its  transactions.  There  is  a 
general  air  of  tidiness,  and  absence 
of  boisterous  doings,  throughout  all 
the  affairs  of  the  school.  The  whole 
concern  goes  like  well-oiled  clock- 
work. Not  many  speeches  are  heard 
from  the  lips  of  this  superintendent, 
but  whenever  he  opens  his  mouth  he 
says  something  worth  remembering. 
He  does  not  talk  against  time,  nor 
utter  great  swelling  words  when  he 
has  nothing  to  say.  When  a  friend 
or  stranger  visits  the  school,  burdened 
with  a  speech  which  must  be  de- 
livered, he  endeavoiu's  to  choose  be- 
tween the  man  who  will  instruct  the 
children  rnd  the  one  who  will  only 
utter  long-strung  nonsense.  Some- 
times, however,  he  makes  a  mistake, 
and  allows  Mr.  Windywordy  to  have 
his  say,  but  is  carefiil  not  to  invite 
him  again.  As  a  good  railroad  con- 
ductor understands  everything  about 
his  train,  from  dri\T.ng  the  engine  to 
oiling  the  car-wheels,  and  can  give 
wise  directions  to  those  whose  duty 
it  is  to  attend  to  these  things,  so  our 
superintendent  can  preside,  keep 
order,  teach  any  class  that  may  be 
without  a  teacher,  look  after  the 
library,  do  the  singing,  and  even 
take  the  place  of  the  sexton  in  case 
of  necessity.  Not  that  he  does  all 
these  at  once,  or  any  one  of  them  in 
a  way  or  at  a  time  to  interfere  with 


others  in  the  discharge  of  their  duty. 
But  he  can  do  them  all,  and  the 
teachers  and  scholars  know  it,  and 
the  knowledge  does  not  hurt  him  in 
their  eyes.  If  he  were  not  a  man  of 
prayer,  he  would  iind  it  impossible 
to  attain  this  excellence.  But  he  is 
in  the  habit  of  constant  and  earnest 
prayer.  Not  only  are  his  public 
prayers  well  uttered,  and  edifying  to 
those  who  are  to  join  in  them,  but 
they  come  from  his  heart,  and  God 
hears  them.  In  his  private  devotion 
the  school  is  often  the  subject  of  his 
petitions.  He  prays  that  the  child- 
ren may  be  converted,  that  the 
teachers  may  with  humble  faithful- 
ness do  their  duty,  and  that  he  may 
have  Grod's  grace  and  guidance  to 
enable  him  to  be  faithful  in  what  he 
has  to  do.  The  spirit  of  prayerful 
earnestness  is  infused  into  all 
he  does.  Persevering  energy  takes 
him  and  the  school  safely  through 
many  difficulties  which  might  other- 
wise cause  a  wreck.  His  school 
prospers.  The  neighbouring  schools 
and  chui'ches  call  it  a  model  school, 
and  ask  for  instruction  as  to  the 
peculiar  system  by  which  it  is 
managed.  They  hardly  believe  when 
they  are  told  that  there  is  no  won- 
derful hocuspocus  about  it,  but  that 
it  is  only  a  school  conducted  with 
prayerful  zeal,  order,  and  simpli- 
city, by  a  band  of  wise  and  faithful 
teachers,  under  a  good  superinten- 
dent.— Taylor. 


SPECIAL  QUALiriOATIONS. 

207.  "What  he  should  be.— A 
superintendent  should  be,  1.  A  man 
of  pietj^  and  settled  Christian  prin- 
ciples ;  2.  A  man  of  intelligence, 
information,  and  prudence ;  3.  A 
man  of  punctuality  and  business 
habits ;   4.  A  man  whose  heart  is 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


57 


thoroughly  in  the  Sabbath-school 
work;  5.  Well  acquainted  with 
Sabbath-schools;  6.  A  man  of  tact 
and  ready  resources  ;  7.  A  man  of 
perseverance,  and  of  steady  habits  of 
mind  and  action ;  8.  A  man  of  con- 
ciliating spirit. — America7i  S.  S. 
Scrap  Booh. 

208.  Essential  Qualifications. — It 
is  not  possible  that  superintendents 
should  all  possess  the  same  gifts,  or 
attain  to  the  same  imiform  success. 
There  are  some  things,  however,  that 
it  is  desirable  all  should  posses : — A 
Good  Chai'acter.  —  Whatever  the 
qualifications  of  a  minister,  if  his 
character  be  not  above  reproach, 
his  success  cannot  be  assured.  A 
superiatendent  will  be  known  in  his 
character  as  certainly  as  the  minister. 
If  he  has  defects,  none  will  know 
them  sooner  than  the  children,  and 
known,  how  shall  he  be  their  leader 
in  spiritual  matters  ?  Every  superin- 
tendent ought  to  be  a  man  who  is  in 
frequent  communion  with  God.  So 
full,  indeed,  should  his  face  and 
heart  be  of  love  to  God  and  the  race, 
that  misapprehensions  cannot  arise, 
either  on  the  part  of  teacher  or 
scholar.  He  should  be  a  man  in 
hearty  sympathy  and  co-operation 
with  his  pastor,  and  should  be  as 
well  known  in  Church- work  as  in  the 
Sunday  school.  A  Strong  Per- 
sonality.— It  is  well  to  know  the 
name  of  each  scholar,  and  on  meetiag, 
in  or  out  of  the  school,  to  bestow  a 
smile  or  word  of  kindly  recognition. 
Especially  should  the  superintendent 
be  acquainted  with  his  teachers. 
There  is  nothing  that  yields  so  large 
a  return  as  this  outlay  of  personal 
attention  to  scholars  and  teachers. 
One  of  the  most  successful  of  the 
Chicago  superiatendents  stations 
himself,  as  his  school  is  disraissed,  at 
the  door,  and  manages  to  shake  the 
hand  of  each  outgoing  scholar. 
Through  the  week,  whether  on  a  visit 
to  a  scholar's  home,  or  in  a  casual 


meeting,  he  manifests  the  same  dis- 
position, and  all  the  children  love 
Mr.  Moody.  New  scholars,  or 
scholars  about  removing,  especially 
need  the  greetings,  loving  and  heart- 
warm,  of  the  superintendent.  Exe- 
cutive Ability. — Every  school  ought 
to  have  its  rules,  the  fewer  and  the 
simpler  the  better,  but  all  must  have 
some.  And  these  rules  must  be 
executed.  The  superintendent  is  set 
for  this  work.  There,  for  instance, 
is  the  rule  as  to  order.  If  noise 
springs  up  in  any  particular  class, 
he  will  exhibit  tact  in  its  suppression. 
He  will  comprehend  that  his  imme- 
diate presence  will  indicate  to  the 
childi'cn  that  he  knows  that  there  is 
something  wrong,  that  his  ear  has 
heard,  and  his  mind  is  pained  by  it. 
Quietness  ordinarily  will  follow  this 
manifested  consciousness.  If  the 
noise  should  be  general,  an  uncom- 
mon thing,  he  will  quell  it  by  tapping 
his  pencil  or  bell,  and  asking  a  com- 
plete suspension  of  the  exercises.  A 
skilful  driver  of  horses  will  commu- 
nicate his  own  impulses  to  them  at  a 
simple  touch  of  the  reins.  Straight- 
forward win  be  their  movement.  An 
unskillful  hand  touching  the  same 
reins  will  provoke  restiveness  or 
obstinacy.  Children,  no  less  than 
horses,  will  give  themselves  up  to 
wise  driving,  or  wUl  "kick  out  of 
traces"  the  instant  an  incompetent  or 
awkward  diiver  attempts  to  direct 
them.  Of  a  superintendent  we  know 
it  was  once  quite  truthfully,  if 
not  wittily,  said :  "  If  he  would  only 
keep  still  himself  for  one  Sabbath, 
his  scholars  would  be  so  surprised 
that  they  would  not  be  able  to  make 
any  noise  for  a  month."  The  execu- 
tive capacity  of  men  differs  as  their 
temperaments;  but  experience,  a 
wise  observation,  and  a  determina- 
tion to  improve,  will  help  any  one, 
no  matter  how  indigently  endowed 
in  this  direction  by  nature.  Self- 
Control. — Every  Sabbath  will  furnish 


58 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOKLX. 


occasions  for  the  test  of  temper. 
Some  of  the  teachers  will  be  late, 
others  indifferent  or  poorly  prepared ; 
if  the  superintendent's  temper  yield 
to  irritation,  the  whole  school  will 
suffer.  A  drop  of  vinegar  will  sour 
a  cup  of  milk;  a  grain  of  iodine 
tincture  a  gallon  of  water ;  a  cross 
word  will  jSid  its  way  to  every  cor- 
ner of  the  room,  and  to  every  child's 
heart.  Nervousness,  anxiety,  excita- 
hility,  are  as  diffusive  as  electricity. 
Positiveness  is  somewhat  needed,  but 
the  superintendent's  face,  if  ever 
dark,  should  have  the  darlmess 
spanned  by  a  rainbow.  Pro^njdness 
and  Preparation. — In  some  of  oui- 
common  schools  the  rules  requii-e  the 
presence  of  the  principal  at  his  room 
thii^ty  minutes  before  the  regular 
time  of  opening.  The  superintendent 
as  priQcipal  of  the  Sunday  school, 
ought,  if  possible,  to  be  present  at 
least  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes  before 
the  hour  of  opening  his  school.  He 
ought  to  come  thoroughly  prepared 
on  the  lesson,  and  if  the  blackboard 
is  in  use  in  his  school,  he  ought  to 
write  the  central  thought  on  it,  with 
some  of  the  subordinate  di^dsions. 
He  ought  not  only  to  know  what  the 
lesson  is,  but  how  it  ought  to  be 
taught,  both  in  the  intermediate  and 
Bible  classes,  so  that  duriag  its 
giving  he  can  furnish  assistance  and 
direction  if  needed,  or,  at  the  close, 
review  the  whole  school  on  it.  JSTo 
truer  words  can  be  found  than  these 
Tittered  by  one  whose  knowledge  of 
theory  and  practice  of  the  superin- 
tendency  covers  a  period  of  twenty- 
five  years :  —  "  Every  enterprising 
Sabbath  school  has  both  its  excel- 
lencies and  its  defects.  They  are 
traceable  partly  to  the  neighbour- 
hood in  which  it  is  placed,  partly  to 
the  teachers  with  whom  it  is  blessed 
or  ^njured,  but  more  to  the  character 
of  its  superintendent.  "Whoever 
has  vital  force  and  energy  enough  to 
carry  on  a  school  successfully,  will 


I)ut  upon  it  a  seal  of  proprietorship 
as  plainly  expressed  as  if  he  stamped 
it,  '  John  Brown,  his  mark.'  The 
teachers,  the  neighbourhood,  and 
other  accessories  are  the  materials 
which  are  cast  into  the  mould  of  his 
character,  and  come  out  of  it  the 
likeness  of  himself.  That  a  school 
can  be  no  better  than  its  head,  is  as 
true  as  that  a  stream  can  rise  no 
higher  than  its  source.  The  fii'st  is 
as  much  of  an  axiom  as  the  latter, 
but  its  truth  is  often  disregarded  in 
the  selection  of  one  who  is  to  act 
as  a  superintendent.  An  inefiicient 
man  makes  an  inefficient  and,  happy 
for  it,  short-lived  school.  One  who 
is  wide  awake  himself  will  not  be 
troubled  with  drowsy  scholars.  A 
disordered  intellect  is  reflected  in  the 
disorder  of  teachers,  scholars,  books, 
and  papers,  and  in  the  helter-skelter 
way  in  which  everji:hing  is  done.  If 
these  truths  would  only  be  recognised 
and  acted  upon ;  if,  after  a  faithful 
trial  of  two  or  three  months,  in  which 
the  well  -  meaning  superintendent 
finds  that  he  is  rather  losing  than 
gaining  ground,  he  would  have  the 
manliness  to  surrender  his  position 
to  some  one  who  is  better  fitted  or 
better  liked  than  himself,  many  a 
school  which  to-day  is  dying  a 
lingering  death  from  being  superin- 
tendent ridden,  instead  of  superinten- 
dent-driven, would  go  forward  with 
new  life  and  vigour.  It  is  one  thing 
to  attract  and  another  thing  to  keep. 
Childi'en  may  be  induced  to  go  for  a 
while  to  a  place  where  there  is  much 
outward  appearance  of  doing  some- 
thing for  them,  but  they  will  not 
stay  unless  something  is  really  done. 
Their  natures  crave  food,  and  food 
they  will  have.  It  may  be  a  trouble, 
too,  to  keep  order,  and  where  dis- 
order is  allowed  they  may  be  quick 
to  take  advantage  of  it,  yet  they  will 
not  stay  in  a  disorderly  school  if  they 
can  find  another  and  a  better." — 
House, 


STJJTDAT   SCHOOL  WORLD. 


59 


209.  Prominent  Points  of  Cha- 
racter.— Afew  words  will  be  sufficient 
to  sum  up  the  most  prominent  points 
of  character  needed.  1.  Age  and 
experience. — In  order  to  have  a 
knowledge  of  the  human  heart,  a 
deep  knowledge  of  his  own  heart,  the 
habit  of  close  self-examination;  in 
order  to  have  the  confidence  of  the 
teachers,  the  community,  and  the 
scholars  ;  in  order  to  speak  and  pray 
in  public  acceptably,  and  appro- 
priately ;  and  in  order  to  haye  that 
weight  accompany  his  advice,  direc- 
tions, and  instructions,  which  can  be 
obtained  only  by  a  character  known, 
and  tried,  and  approved.  2.  Devoted- 
ness  to  religion. — That  he  may  be  a 
man  of  prayer,  by  which  alone 
wisdom  that  is  profitable  to  direct 
can  be  obtained ;  that  he  may  be  un- 
wearied in  his  attempts  to  aid  the 
teachers,  that  he  may  thoroughly 
understand  the  lesson  himself,  and 
communicate  it  with  a  simple  and 
sincere  desire  to  save  the  soul.  3. 
Evenness  of  temper. — That  the  school 
may  feel  that  the  hand  which  holds 
the  helm  never  varies;  that  the 
teachers  may  find  their  intercourse 
pleasant,  and  may  go  to  him  as  to  a 
fiiend,  without  ever  expecting  to  be 
wounded  by  irritability ;  that  parents 
may  find  it  pleasant  to  go  to  the 
school,  and  witness  the  improvement 
of  their  children ;  that  strangers  may 
find  a  courteous  reception,  and  their 
visit  be  rendered  profitable.  Self- 
government  is  invaluable,  indispens- 
able to  the  superintendent.  4.  Great 
promptness  of  character. — That  the 
school  may  be  opened  and  closed  with 
great  exactness,  that  no  exercises 
may  be  long  and  tedious,  that  the 
teachers  and  school  may  know  what 
to  depend  on ;  that  they  may  know 
that  no  changes  will  take  place  with- 
out great  deliberation  and  thought. 
5.  Growing  humility.  —  Otherwise 
his  station,  the  deference  exacted  and 
paid,  and  the  infiuenoe  exerted,  will 


make  him  a  Diotrephes.  He  must 
cidtivate  piety  in  his  own  heart,  and 
become  like  the  angels  who  are 
ministers  to  worms  of  the  dust,  and 
are  good  ministers  in  proportion  as 
they  are  humble.  True  exaltation 
and  greatness  consist  in  great  hu- 
mility. 6.  An  examjile  in  all  that  is 
good. — He  should  be  fervent,  simple, 
unaffected  in  prayer,  increasing  in  a 
knowledge  of  the  Bible,  prompt, 
liberal,  noble  in  charity,  untiring  in 
labours,  warm  in  Christian  inter- 
course, growing  in  all  the  Christian 
graces,  and  living  for  the  salvation 
of  the  earth.  Such  should  be  the 
SuPEEiNTEXDENT  of  the  Sabbath- 
school. — Todd. 

210.  Executive  abiUty. —  In  the 
first  place,  a  Sabbath-schcol  superin- 
tendent shoidd  have  thcs3  general 
executive  abilities  which  are  needed 
in  the  head  of  any  large  business, 
whether  it  be  that  of  a  store,  a  bank, 
a  farm,  a  raili'oad,  a  factory,  a  ship, 
or  an  army.  He  must  have  what  in 
worldly  affairs  are  called  business 
qualities,  and  he  must  have  a  talent 
for  directing  the  energies  of  others. 
"Whoever  has  the  talents  necessary 
for  a  good  manager  in  any  large 
secular  business,  has  the  first  quali- 
fication of  a  good  superintendent, 
such  a  man  must  have  a  strong  will. 
He  need  not  be  stubborn,  he  need 
not  be  imperious,  he  will  not  be  harsh 
or  rude ;  but  he  must  be  a  man  of 
strong  resolution,  and  decidedly  ten- 
acious in  regard  to  his  plans  and 
purposes.  There  must  be  a  little  bit 
of  iron  in  his  composition. — Dr.  Hart. 


211. 


The    superiatendeat 


should  also  be  a  man  of  good  executive 
ahility ;  and  this  is  a  very  rare 
possession.  He  needs  much  discern- 
ing power,  as  well  as  organising  and 
combining  talent,  so  as  to  keep 
pastor  and  people,  parents,  teachers, 
and  scholars,  all  harmomonsly  at 
work. — Pardee. 


60 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOKLD. 


212.  Dispatch. — The  superinten- 
dent must  learn  the  art  of  expediting 
matters.  Preparation  on  all  points 
of  his  duty  in  opening  the  school  will 
enable  him  to  get  through,  without 
seeming  to  he  in  haste,  and  without 
neglecting  a  single  item  on  the  list. 
He  must  guide  the  school.  He  must 
aim  to  wield  the  thoughts  and  willing 
attention  of  all.  Let  him  not  expect 
to  do  this  if  he  has  not  studied 
beforehand,  for  each  Sabbath,  exactly 
what  he  has  to  do,  and  has  not  every 
particular  so  definitely  settled  in  his 
own  mind  that  he  cannot  by  any 
possibility  be  thrown  into  confusion. 
— Anon. 

213.  Administration. —  As  Dr. 
James  "W.  Alexander  used  to  say: 
*'  That  man  who  can  well  superintend 
a  Sabbath-school  can  command  an 
army;"  and  a  well-known  bishop 
has  said,  that  "the  man  who  can 
organise  a  good  mission-school  can 
organise  a  diocese." 

214.  Piety. — He  must  be  possess- 
ed of  deep  fervent  'piety .  Though  it 
may  be  by  some  thought  superfluous 
to  mention  piety  as  an  essential 
qualification  in  the  superintendent 
of  a  Sabbath-school,  yet,  in  many 
instances,its  necessity  has  been  en- 
tirely overlooked,  and  schools  have 
been  governed  for  years  by  men 
without  any  pretensions  to  personal 
religion.  Such  a  man  may  be  perfect 
in  his  discipline,  wise  in  his  plans, 
his  school  may  be  a  model  for  order 
and  for  learning ;  but,  lacking  the 
love  of  God  in  his  heart,  an  icy  cold- 
ness, a  frigid  mechanism,  will  pervade 
his  administration;  his  brightest 
hopes  are  unworthy  the  object  of  a 
Sabbath-school,  and  were  his  fondest 
imaginations  realised,  they  might, 
like  the  aurora  borealis,  be  bright 
and  beautiful  to  look  at,  but  would 
only  more  ^dvidly  excite  a  longing 
for  the  life-giving  rays  of  the  sun. — 
Davids. 


215.  He  should  be  spiritually 

qualified  for  his  work,  and  should 
become  a  holier  man  of  Grod  from  the 
hour  in  which  he  first  receives  the 
"  call."  He  should  be  in  daily  com- 
munion with  God  about  the  work, 
talking  freely  with  Him  on  all  that 
concerns  the  school,  about  every 
teacher,  and  about  every  scholar, 
and  humbly  watching  for  answers  to 
his  prayers. — Pardee. 

216.  Firmness. — It  is  worse  than 
useless  to  grasp  the  reins  of  power 
with  a  loose  and  careless  hand.  To 
play  with  rules,  to  connive  at  dis- 
obedience, to  threaten  without  en- 
forcing, or  to  scold  with  vain,  un- 
meaning repetitions,  all  these  tend 
to  lessen  the  bond  of  order  and  dis- 
cipline. Firmness  never  need  de- 
generate into  harshness  or  despotism. 
I^ever  should  the  children  come  to 
look  upon  the  superintendent  as  a 
tyrant,  but  yet  his  will  must  be  their 
law,  and  the  first  trial  to  which  he 
may  be  challenged  should  be  so 
settled  that  whilst  the  whole  school 
feels  that  the  superintendent  can 
control  himself,  there  should  re- 
main not  the  least  doubt  but  that 
he  can  control  them.  A  world  of 
trouble  will  be  saved  by  an  early 
imderstanding  on  this  point.  No 
man  can  be  a  good  superintendent 
who  does  not  truly  possess  the  spirit 
of  firmness,  kindness,  and  patience. 
— Rev.  C.  M.  Barnes. 


217. 


It  will  be   seen  from 


these  points  that  the  superintendent 
needs  great  general  strength  of  cha- 
racter. "Willow  will  do  for  a  basket, 
but  it  requires  oak  and  iron  for  a 
man-of-war.  jSTever  are  the  teachers 
called  to  a  more  important  duty  than 
when  they  prayerfully  cast  their 
votes  for  the  election  of  superin- 
tendent. No  personal  favouiitism 
or  interest  or  prejudice  shoidd  be 
allowed  for  a  single  moment  to  pre- 
vail.— Pardee. 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WORLD. 


61 


218.  Humility. — A  superintendent 
has  so  much  power,  and  is  so  accus- 
tomed to  command,  that  unless  he 
cultivate  growing  humbleness  of 
mind,  and  enjoy  much  communion 
with  God  in  secret,  his  own  piety 
will  flicker  and  decay;  he  will  be- 
come oyerbearing  and  imperious ;  he 
will  cease  to  shine,  and  no  longer 
point  the  way ;  deadness  and  barren- 
ness will  be  in  the  school :  its  num- 
bers may  keep  up,  its  mechanism 
may  be  faultless,  but  conversions 
will  be  unknown  there,  and  the  bles- 
sing of  God  will  have  departed  from 
its  midst. — Davids. 

219.  Spirit  and  Temper.— The 
Sunday-school  superintendent  should 
always  have  a  spirit  and  temj)er  such 
as  will  be  safe  to  diffuse  throughout 
the  school.  If  he  is  warm  and 
genial,  such  will  be  the  school.  A 
cheerful  superintendent  spreads 
cheerfulness  throughout  the  school. 
A  light  and  trifling,  or  a  gloomy 
and  morose  superintendent  infects 
teachers  and  scholars  alike  with  the 
same  spirit.  K^ever  should  the  super- 
intendent allow  the  least  impatience 
or  harshness  to  manifest  itself  ia  his 
look,  tone  of  voice,  or  manner  in  the 
school ;  for  its  effects  will  prove  most 
disastrous.  Ill-temper  is  a  perfect 
barrier  to  religious  improvement  and 
usefulness. — Pardee. 

220.  Education  and  Social  Posi- 
tion.— He  should  possess  biblical  and 
general  information,  and  be  in  an 
injluential  position  in  society.  Per- 
sons do  not  like  to  be  governed  by 
those  whom,  on  any  account,  they 
rightly  deem  theiu  inferiors.  As  the 
chief  officers  must  ever  determine 
the  character  of  the  school  in  public 
estimation,  we  usually  find,  where 
the  superintendent  is  not  a  man  of 
decided  superiority,  both  of  mind  and 
station,  that  the  teachers  are  poor, 
or  very  young. — Davids. 


221.  Zeal. — He  should  also  engage 
in  the  work  with  a  good  measure  of 
scriptural  enthusiasm.  "We  do  well  to 
be  very  earnest  and  full  of  Kfe,  to 
be  glowing  and  animated  in  our 
looks,  words,  and  actions,  if  we  would 
effectually  reach  the  children,  who 
are  so  full  of  Kfe.  Perhaps  the  word 
unction  would  more  worthily  express 
the  idea.  The  superintendent's  in- 
terest should  rise  to  this  high  point. 
— Pardee. 

222.  (reniality.— Says  the Eev.S. 
Martin:  ''If  he  stands  at  the  desk 
like  a  cold  snow-capped  mountain, 
or  floats  about  the  school  like  a 
majestic  iceberg,  the  whole  atmos- 
phere of  the  school  will  be  cold." 

223.  General  Information. — The 
conductor  should  be  a  public  in- 
structor who  knows  the  whole  ground 
himseK,  knows  the  art  of  teaching, 
and  should  have  his  heart  right,  all 
a-glow  with  ardour  in  the  work.  The 
value  of  a  well-conducted  institute 
can  scarcely  be  over  estimated.  One 
held  many  months  ago  in  Ann  Arbor 
has  left  its  influence  palpably  and 
strongly  marked  to  this  hour.  It 
vitalised  the  schools  and  teachers  of 
the  city  and  vicinity  to  a  large 
degree. — E.  O.  Havern,  D.D. 

224.  Tact. — It  is  no  easy  matter 
to  govern  wisely  and  thoroughly  a 
body  of  voluntary  adult  agents,  and, 
at  the  same  time,  children  of  all 
ages  and  dispositions,  whose  attend- 
ance, further,  is  for  the  most  part  as 
voluntary  as  that  of  the  teachers. 
To  govern  both  absolutely,  to  unite 
love  with  firmness,  to  maintain  dis- 
cipline at  all  hazards,  requires  tact, 
and  a  cool  head  to  carry  out  unhesi- 
tatingly the  plan  that  a  mature  judg- 
ment has  devised.  The  tact  to  govern 
consists  in  a  union  of  the  wisdom  of 
the  serpent  with  the  meekness  of  the 
dove. — Davids. 


02 


SIJXDAT   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


225.  A  superintendent  witli- 

OTit  tact  is  either  a  mere  cipher, 
simply  giving  out  books  or  tickets, 
and  conducting  the  mechanism  of  the 
daily  routine,  or  an  arrogant  usurper, 
offending  everyone ;  but  only  let  him 
possess  this  tact^  and  his  spirit  will 
pervade  the  entire  school,  exercising 
a  mysterious  influence,  binding  each 
heart  to  himself,  and  moidding  its 
energies  at  will.  We  well  remember, 
one  Sabbath-day,  a  little  before  nine 
o'clock,  opposite  a  large  school  house, 
a  party  of  soldiers  were  drawn  up 
for  drilling :  their  gay  accoutrements 
and  various  manoeuvres  charmed  both 
teachers  and  scholars ;  although,  on 
the  strike  of  nine,  the  school  was 
deserted,  presently  the  first  stroke  of 
the  clock  sounded,  the  superintendent 
raised  his  voice,  uttered  the  single 
word  *'  Time ;"  quick  as  lightning, 
each  teacher  collected  his  class  and 
hastened  into  the  school,  while  the 
superintendent,  standing  at  the  door, 
bolted  it  as  usual,  before  the  clock 
had  finished  striking.  The  sergeant, 
turning  to  his  men,  said,  ''  That's 
good  government :  you  may  take 
a  lesson  from  those  boys." — Davids. 

226.  Observation.  —  Whoever 
assumes  the  headship  of  any  business, 
with  many  persons  working  under 
him,  whether  young  or  old,  must 
know  how  to  use  his  eyes.  Some 
persons  seem  to  have  no  facidty 
whatever  for  seeing  things.  They 
go  through  the  world  in  a  sort  of 
dream.  If  a  man  has  not  a  decided 
talent  for  observation,  he  has  no 
"business  at  the  head  of  a  school.  As 
a  mail  may  have  a  strong  will,  with- 
<ju.t  being  imperious,  boisterous,  or 
rude,  so  it  is  not  necessary  that  he 
should  stare,  or  be  sly  and  tricky, 
or  that  he  should  he  should  bustle 
about  much  in  order  to  be  a  good 
observer.  Looking  is  not  always 
seeing.  There  is  such  a  thing  as 
knowing  how  to  see,  just  as  much 


as  there  is  knowing  how  to  draw  a 
straight  line,  or  knowing  how  to  sing 
a  tune  correctly.  Two  persons, 
standing  side  by  side,  at  the  superin- 
tendent's desk,  may  look  over  a 
school  that  is  in  disorder.  The  one 
will  see  exactly  where  the  disorder 
is,  what  is  its  cause,  and  who  is 
making  it.  He  will  detect  at  a  glance 
who  lead,  who  are  [led,  who  are 
acting  thoughtlessly,  and  who 
through  design.  The  other  will  be 
conscious  of  a  hubbub  and  a  noise, 
but  will  see  nothing.  This  power  or 
faculty  of  seeing  is  with  some  a 
natural  gift.  But  it  may  be  culti- 
vated. The  possession  of  it,  in  a 
large  degree,  whether  by  nature  or 
cultivation,  is  absolutely  essential  to 
a  superintendent. — Dr.  Hart, 


227. 


A    year   ago   in   my 


school,  there  prevailed  a  bad  habit  of 
inattention  during  the  opening  and 
closing  exercises.  Scholar^  and  some 
of  the  teachers  would  wliisper,  turn 
over  the  leaves  of  a  book,  or  pay 
attention  to  something  else,  and  every 
effort  to  correct  it  failed.  At  one  of 
our  stirring  conventions  I  heard  a 
very  successful  Sunday-school  worker' 
say  that  order  must  be  secured  by 
the  eye.  DonH  talk,  hut  look.  On 
this  hint  I  acted,  and  the  result  is 
most  satisfactory.  It  was  somewhat 
difiS-Cult  to  make  a  begianing,  but 
the  scholars  soon  learned  what  it 
meant.  No  one  in  my  school  ever 
persisted  in  disorder  ten  seconds 
under  my  look.  The  look  must  mean 
something.  It  is  not  a  scowl — far 
from  it — but  it  has  authority  in  it. 
It  expects  to  be  obeyed,  and  yet  it  is 
full  of  love  and  iaterest,  as  every 
superintendent's  heart  should  be. 
When  all  is  quiet  and  in  perfect  order, 
proceed  immediately,  calmly,  natu- 
rally, with  the  exercises ;  pausing,  if 
there  is  disorder  again,  and  looking 
directly  at  the  person  occasioning  it, 
untn  \i.Q  feels  you,  and  then  resume. 


:^ 


STTNDAY   SCHOOL   WOEID. 


63 


Do  not  look  an  instant  longer  than  I  If  the  superintendent's  own  heart  is 
necessary,  and  never  for  a  moment  [  full  of  love  for  his  scholars,  and  this 
lose  your  own  self-control.  The  j  love  beams  forth  from  his  eyes,  if  his 
whole  secret  may  be  thus — Command  face  lights  up  with  pleasure  whenever 
yourseK — expect  order — never  com-  j  he  meets  them,  it  will  call  forth  a 


mence   or  proceed  until 
secured  it. — L.  R.  S. 


you 


have 


228.  Penetration.  —  There  must 
be  more  than  this  ability  to  see.  Half 
a  man's  power  of  control  over  others, 
especially  over  the  young,  is  in  his 
eyes.  Nor,  in  order  to  this  power  of 
control,  is  it  necessary  to  look  fierce, 
or  to  look  cross,  or  to  frown  or  scowl, 
or  to  distort,  in  any  manner,  the 
features.  Brow-beating,  like  other 
beating,  only  hardens  the  rude  and 
terrifies  the  gentle.  But  there  is  a 
look,  which  boys  and  men  alike,  and 
even  brutes,  recognise  as  something 
not  to  be  trifled  with.  It  is  a  look  of 
conscious  authority  and  power,  quiet, 
composed,  resolute — saying,  in  lan- 
guage which  men  and  brutes  alike 
instinctively  understand,  that  the 
possessor  has  deliberately  canvassed 
the  question  of  his  right,  and  of  his 
ability  to  enforce  his  requirements, 
and  is  ready  to  go  to  the  extent  full 

of  that  ability,  rather  than  yield  the  |  not.  necessary  that  a  superintendent 
point  of  right.  AH  this  is  conveyed  \  should  be  a  great  talker.  More 
by  a  quiet,  resolute  look.  The  power  |  superintendents  err  by  talking  too 
•which  some  men  have  in  their  eyes  much,  than  by  talking  too  little.  I 
amounts  almost  to  a  fascination,  believe  a  great  many  men,  who 
The  rebellious  spirits  of  a  school-room  ^ould  have  made  very  excellent 
stand  speU-bound  before  it.  But  let  superintendents,  have  shrunk  from 
no  man  attempt  to  put  it  on  who  is  the  position,  or  have  not  been  called 
not  conscious  withm  himself  of  the        •      ^  -       -  . 


responding  smile  from  them.  It 
will  draw  out  a  ready  confidence  and 
affection  on  their  part.  This  is  a 
part  of  the  mother's  wonderful  influ- 
ence. It  is  the  first  language  of  un- 
schooled infancy,  and  thank  God,  we 
never  quite  forget  its  meaning  or 
outgrow  its  power. — Dr.  Hart. 

229.  A  Good  Singer. — A  quality 
much  more  important  than  that  of 
ability  in  public  speaking,  is  the 
ability  to  sing.  Even  this  is  not 
indispensable.  Superintendents  who 
know  not  a  note  of  music,  have  been 
able,  not  only  to  conduct  a  school 
successfully  in  other  respects,  but 
even  to  secure  in  the  school  great  ex- 
cellence in  its  singing.  To  do  this, 
however,  is  to  work  in  the  face  of 
manifest  difficulties.  The  superin- 
tendent who  can  sing  well,  has  a  gift 
for  his  office  of  inestimable  value. — 

I  Dr.  Hart. 

230.  Discretion  in  Speech. — It  is 


real    power    which    it    represents. 


to  it,  because  of  a  false  notion,  on 
the  part  of  themselves  or  their  friends, 


Children  are  the  last  persons  in  the  j  that  talking,  haranguing  the  school, 
world  to  be  imposed  upon  by  conceit ',  was  the  chief  business  to  be  done, 
or  superciliousness.  They  have  an  |  Of  course,  there  is  a  great  deal  of 
intuitive  sagacity  for  detecting  pre-  j  talking  to  be  done  in  school.  But  it 
tence.  Nor  is  authority  the  only  is  to  be  done  chiefly  by  the  teachers, 
power  that  the  superintendent  carries  -  The  busy  hum  of  tongues  is  for  the 
in  his  eye.  No  instrument  of  the  soul  \  class  in  the  active  intercourse  and 
speaks  its  love  so  powerfully  and  so  j  play  of  mind  between  teacher  and 
directly  to  the  heart  as  this.  By  no  scholar.  The  chief  functions  of  the 
means  can  a  man  who  reallv  loves  superintendent  is  so  to  regulate  the 


the  young,  so  quickly  win  their  love. 


aft'airs  of  the  school  that  there  shall 


64 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


be  as  little  interruption  as  possible 
to  this  close,  direct  intercommunica- 
tion between  each,  individual  teacher 
and  his  class,  th^t  there  shall  be  as 
much  solid,  compact,  unbroken  time 
as  possible  left  to  the  teacher,  after 
dispatching  the  necessary  public  busi- 
ness of  the  school.  The  superinten- 
dent, who  by  want  of  foresight  in 
arranging  the  order  of  business,  or 
by  an  imdue  loquacity,  breaks  in 
seriously  upon  the  time  due  to  the 
teachers,  does  great  harm.  There 
are  cases,  indeed,  especially  in  mis- 
sion-schools, and  in  schools  where  a 
majority  of  the  teachers  are  very 
dehcient,  in  which  the  superinten- 
dent is  really  the  master  teacher. 
The  teachers,  so  called,  keep  the 
classes  together,  register  the  atten- 
dance, take  in  and  give  out  books, 
and  so  forth,  but  have  no  gift  for 
teaching.  They  occupy  the  teacher's 
seat,  because  there  is  no  one  else  to 
do  it.  They  are  the  best  the  super- 
intendent can  get,  and  he  is  most 
grateful  for  their  assistance,  but  he 
feels  obliged  to  supplement  their 
shortcomings  by  instruction  from  the 
desk.  There  are,  too,  speakers  with 
special  gifts,  for  whose  speeches  the 
ordinary  class  instruction  of  almost 
any  school  might  very  profitably  be 
often  suspended.  But  I  am  not 
speaking  now  of  such  talkers  as  these, 
nor  of  schools  that  are  quite  excep- 
tional in  their  character.  I  mean 
ordinary,  regularly  organised  schools, 
when  I  say  that  the  chief  function  of 
the  superintendent  is  not  haranguing 
from  the  desk,  and  that  a  man  may 
be  a  very  good  superintendent  who 
is  not  a  great  talker.  Of  course,  the 
superintendent  must  address  the 
school  from  the  desk  sometimes. 
But  it  should  always  be  done  with 
care  and  forethought,  and  with  stu- 
dious and  deliberate  brevity. — Dr. 
Hart. 


231. 


Good  addresses   are  a 


great  pleasure  and  attraction,  but  the 


best  address  that  ever  was  delivered 
is  not  fit  to  be  substituted  for  the 
Sunday-school  lesson ;  above  all,  Mr. 
Superintendent,  don't  be  continually 
making  long  speeches  to  the  school 
yourself.  Never  let  a  speaker  run 
over  his  time  so  as  to  prolong  the 
session  of  the  school.  If  you  are 
not  punctual  in  closing,  how  can  you 
expect  the  rest  to  be  punctual  in 
coming. — Raymond, 

232.  Impartiality.  —  A  fault  too 
common  in  superintendents  and 
others  in  addressing  or  reviewing 
the  school  is  to  allow  a  few  bright 
boys  or  girls  to  do  all  the  respond- 
ing. They  never  seem  to  Icnow  that 
one-half  or  three-fourths  of  the 
school  are  silent,  or  have  been  silent 
all  the  time  of  the  address  or  review. 
In  a  school  where  we  happened  to 
be  a  visitor,  three  persons  delivered 
addresses.  The  first  and  second  in- 
dulged in  a  sort  of  catechetical  dis- 
course, the  "  leading "  question 
predominating.  Four  boys  in  a 
corner  did  nineteen-twentieths  of 
the  responding,  and  the  speakers 
each  complimented  the  school  on  its 
perfect  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures. 
The  third  speaker  pursued  a  dif- 
ferent course.  He  asked  the  boys 
in  the  corner  to  be  quiet  while  he 
tried  the  left-hand  side  of  the  house, 
composed  chiefly  of  the  smaller  girls 
and  boys.  Not  a  response  could  he 
at  first  obtain  from  them.  At  last, 
by  simple  questions,  he  reassured 
them,  and  in  the  course  of  ten 
minutes  had  the  satisfaction  of 
knowing  that  perhaps  one-half  of 
them  understood  the  main  points 
which  speakers  No.  1  and  2  pro- 
nounced the  whole  school  thoroughly 
to  comprehend.  The  bright  scholars 
are  bright  enough  to  cai'e  for  them- 
selves. Look  after  those  who  fire 
half  afraid  of  you  and  themselves. — 
House. 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


DUTIES. 

233.  Sabbath  Duties.  —  Before 
sehool  he  will,  of  course,  prepare  his 
mind,  by  meditation  and  prayer,  for 
his  duties ;  he  ^\ill  faithfully  study 
the  lesson,  select  the  hymns  and 
Scripture  lesson  for  the  day,  and 
carefully  read  them  and  study  them, 
nntil  he  has  imbibed  so  much  of 
their  spirit  as  to  be  able  to  feel 
them,  and  to  express  that  feeling 
while  reading  them  before  the  school. 
He  will  also  prepare  his  notices,  and 
arrange  for  all  special  duties.  All 
the  teachers  with  the  superintendent, 
ought  to  enjoy  a  twenty-miuute 
prayer-meeting  before  the  hour  to 
open  the  school,  with  two-minute 
direct  prayers,  one  or  two  verses  of 
singing  at  a  time,  and  then  only  one 
or  two  selections  of  warm,  appro- 
priate verses  of  Scripture  truth. 
\Ve  would  characterise  the  require- 
ments of  such  a  meeting  by  these 
words — Impressive,  Interesting,  De- 
vout. The  Opening  Exercises.  — 
The  good  superintendent  will  always 
be  punctual  in  opening,  and  at  the 
precise  minute  calmly,  but  clearly 
and  natiu'ally,  call  the  school  to 
order.  Having  done  this,  he  wiLL 
never  proceed  farther  until  every 
teacher,  scholar,  secretary,  librarian, 
or  visitor  is  in  order.  He  will  re- 
member that  every  eye  is  on  him, 
for  an  example,  and  he  will  take  no 
liberty  himself  with  the  rules  of  the 
school.  When  perfect  silence  and 
complete  attention  are  gained,  he 
will  deliberately  read  the  hymn  and 
see  that  all  sing,  about  two  or  three 
verses  ;  then  read  impressively  the 
lesson  for  the  day,  if  not  more  than 
from  ten  to  fifteen  verses,  or  alter- 
nate with  the  school  in  reading  if 
preferable.  He  will  be  careful  to 
mind  all  the  stops,  and  read  in  clear, 
impressive  tones,  so  that  the  reading 
of  the  Scriptures  by  the  school  will 
be  almost  as  musical  as  singing.  All 


will  then  unite  in  prayer 
superintendent,  one  of  the  teLv^^v.^^, 
the  pastor,  or  a  visitor  present,  who 
may  be  called  upon;  this  prayer 
should  be  short  and  to  the  point,  ex- 
pressed in  short  sentences  and  in 
hildren's  language.  The  children 
will  join  in  and  repeat  the  prayer, 
broken  up  into  sentences  of  four  or 
fi.ve  words  each.  Thus  should  the 
children  be  taught  how  to  pray.  The 
whole  of  the  opening  exercises  should 
not  usually  exceed  fifteen  minutes. 
The  school  will  then  be  given  into 
the  hands  of  the  teachers,  to  pro- 
ceed with  the  lesson.  During  Teach- 
ing.— The  superintendent  will  then 
quietly  supply  every  vacant  class 
with  a  teacher,  or  unite  it  with 
another  class  which  has  a  teacher,  so 
that  every  scholar  may  be  placed  at 
once,  temporarily  at  least,  in  charge 
of  some  one,  and  that  no  one  may  be 
suffered  to  be  idle.  Next,  he  wUl 
check  off  the  names  of  teachers  pre- 
sent on  his  roll-book ;  and  then  pro- 
ceed to  receive  the  new  scholars, 
learn  their  names,  residence,  parents ; 
gain  their  confidence  ;  ascertain 
whether  they  do  not  now  belong  to 
some  other  good  school ;  inform  them 
of  the  character  and  order  of  the 
Sunday-school,  and  assign  them  a 
place,  temporary  or  permanent,  in  a 
class.  He  will  then  pass  quietly  and 
discreetly  around  the  room,  recog- 
nising the  teachers  and  scholars  as 
far  as  may  be  without  interrupting 
or  embarrassing  them,  assisting  any 
teacher  who  may  need  it  to  restore 
order  and  harmony,  or  to  gain  the 
attention  of  any  volatile  youth  in 
the  class.  "With  the  approval  of  the 
teacher,  he  will  occasionally  examine 
the  class,  notice  all  disturbing  ele- 
nients  in  the  school,  the  adaptedness, 
or  otherwise,  of  the  teachers  for  the 
particular  classes  in  their  charge ; 
occasionally  recommending  and  hand- 
ing an  appropriate  book  from  the 
library  to  a  teacher  or  scholar,  and 


6Q 


StrXDAT   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


caUing  especial   attention  to   it  for 
their  profit.     The  Bible  classes  and 
infant  classes  will  be  timely  noticed, 
and  all  strangers  and  visitors  greeted 
with  a  courteous,  Cluistian  welcome. 
Suitable  suggestions  will  be  made  to 
the   secretary   and    librarian ;    any 
call    for    assistance   or   explanation 
will  be  given  to  any  teacher;  and 
thus,   in   every  appropriate,   unob- 
trusive way,  he  will  do  whatever  he 
can  to  facilitate  the   work  of    all, 
while  liindering  none.     Superinten- 
dents should  be  very  cautious  whom 
they  invite  to  address  the  school,  and 
particularly  strangers  of  whom  they 
know  but  little,  only  that  they  are 
•called  very  good  men.     Few  persons 
can   address   a   Sunday-school  with 
profit;  and  certainly,   without  im- 
portant reasons,  the  teachers  should 
not  be  interrupted  in  their  regular 
duties ;    for    the    time    allotted    to 
them  is    theirs,   and  even  the   su- 
perintendent has   no   right  to   take 
it  to  oblige  a   friend.      Closing  the 
School. — -At    the     appointed    mo- 
ment the    superintendent  will    call 
the   school  again  to   order,  to   sing 
over    a   verse   of  a   hymn  in   har- 
mony with  the    lesson;     and  then 
the  superintendent  may  occupy  not 
more  than  five  or  ten  minlites  in  a 
clear,  well-digested  exposition  of,  or 
some  pertinent  remarks  or  questions 
upon,  the  prominent  points  or  teach- 
ings of  the  lesson.     Unless  he  can 
succeed  in  interesting  and  fixing  the 
attention  of  both  teachers  and  scho- 
lars  with  thoughts    not    ordinarily 
dwelt  upon  by  the  teachers,  he  had 
better  not  attempt  this  exercise ;  for 
few  evils  are  greater  in  a  school  than 
a  superintendent  who  talks  too  much. 
Many  of  our  best  and  most  success- 
ful and  acceptable  superientendent^ 
never  attempt  to  addi'ess  their  schools, 
except  to  give  their  notices  and  ne- 
cessary dii'ections  in  a  clear,  orderly, 
business-like  way,  and  then  stop  at 
once.     An  opportunity  is  then  given 


to  distribute  the  library  books  and 
papers,  give  out  the  next  week's 
lesson,  sing  a  verse  or  two  of  the 
selected  hymn,  or  with  a  prayer  dis- 
miss the  school  in  regular  order. 
After  the  school  the  superintendent 
will  receive  any  suggestions  or  re- 
quests from  teachers  or  scholars ;  see 
that  everything  is  left  in  its  place ; 
review  the  events  of  the  school,  and 
note  down  all  his  plans  for  improve- 
ment, and  begin  to  study  his  next 
lesson. — Pardee. 

234.  Week-day  Duties. — During 
the  iveek  he  will  remember  that  his 
duties  as  superintendent  do  not  close 
with  the  Sabbath,  or  monthly  con- 
cert, or  teachers'  meeting.  Every 
day  he  regards  the  Sabbath-school 
as  his  great  field  of  labour  in  the 
moral  vineyard.  Let  us  follow  him, 
and  we  shall  see  him  on  Monday 
mo7'ning  on  his  way  to  his  regular 
business,  when,  as  he  meets  little 
Johnny  Smith,  who,  he  remembers, 
was  not  in  his  place  in  school  yester- 
day, he  very  pleasantly  inquu'es  the 
reason.  At  the  corner  of  the  next 
street  he  comes  across  an  absent 
teacher,  and  similar  inquiries  ensue. 
On  his  return  home  at  evening  he 
sees  in  the  distance,  in  company  with 
a  number  of  street  girls,  Mary  Jones, 
and  he  hastens  to  her,  takes  her  aside 
with  him,  and  learns  the  reason  of 
her  leaving  school  some  weeks  before, 
together  with  other  facts  in.  her  his- 
tory, -sfTiich  call  out  kind  words  of 
caution  for  the  wayward  child,  and 
he  leaves  her  with  the  warm  assur- 
ance of  her  return.  In  the  evening 
he  is  at  the  monthly  concert  of 
prayer  for  Sabbath-schools,  and  drops 
a  few  earnest  remarks  about  the 
children,  which  have  such  an  efiect 
upon  two  mothers  present  that  they 
go  home  and  become  more  faithful 
thenceforth  in  their  Christian  duty 
to  their  beloved  little  ones.  On  the 
way,  Tuesday,  he  steps  in  for  a  few 


RFKDAY   SCHOOL    WORLD. 


67 


moments  to  sec  a  teacher  who  ap- 
peared quite  perplexed  and  disheart- 
ened on  the  Sabbath  by  the  restless- 
ness, inattention,  or  indifference  of 
her  class.  lie  noticed  last  Sabbath 
that  that  teacher  could  only  interest 
the  class  for  a  few  minutes.  On 
looking  over  the  next  week's  lesson 
he  is  reminded  of  that  teacher  and 
one  of  her  scholars.  The  next  morn- 
ing he  calls  for  a  moment  upon  her  on 
his  way  to  business,  and  says :  "  Miss 

S ,  there  is  one  verse  of  the  lesson 

that  I  think  can  be  used  with  ad- 
vantage with  one  of  your  scholars — 
Frank  Jones."  He  explains  it  to  the 
teacher,  and  gives  her  an  illustra- 
tion or  two.  What  has  he  done  ? 
He  has  given  that  teacher  the  first 
real  idea  she  ever  had  of  teaching 
Bible  truth  aright,  and  she  goes  to 
her  class  the  next  Sabbath  a  new 
teacher,  and  never  loses  the  influence 
in  future  life.  He  soon  succeeds  in 
dispelling  the  cloud,  and  causing  a 
cheerful  light  to  shine  on  her  path 
of  duty.  On  Wednesdaij  evening  he 
steps  over  to  consult  the  pastor  about 
the  best  way  of  tui-ning  the  hearts 
of  parents  to  their  children,  and  to 
arouse  the  church  in  sympathetic 
efforts  on  behalf  of  the  lambs  of  the 
flock.  Oil  Thursday  morning  he 
takes  an  hour  before,  or  an  interval 
of  business,  to  explore  a  desperate 
neighbourhood,  and  succeeds  beyond 
his  expectations  in  exciting  interest 
and  enlisting  recruits  for  the  Sun- 
day-school from  among  the  juvenile 
portion  of  the  disorderly  gang. 
He  also  takes  occasion  to  call  on 
little  Pat  Lawless's  mother,  and  is 
successful  in  getting  her  pledge  to 
co-opeiate  with  him  in  the  attempt 
to  rescue  her  boy  from  untold  de- 
pravity and  almost  certain  ruin. 
Pat  is  notoriously  the  ringleader  in 
the  worst  gang  of  boys  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood, and  everybody  was  sur- 
prised to  see  little  Harry  Page  lead- 
ing him  into  the  Sunday-school  for 


the  first  time  on  the  last  Sabbath 
morning.  On  his  way  back  from 
business,  Friday  evening^  he  calls 
for  a  few  minutes  on  an  intelligent 
yoimg  Christian  who  has  recently 
come  into  the  place,  in  order  to  seek 
his  Christian  acquaintance,  and  in- 
vite him  to  look  up  for  himself  a 
class  of  scholars  from  the  neglected 
neighbourhood  he  visited  the  day 
before,  and  he  succeeds  in  inducing 
him  to  bring  a  fine  class  of  street- 
boys  into  the  school  and  teach  them 
the  way  of  life.  He  takes  a  hint 
from  the  conversation  with  his  young 
friend,  and  concludes  to  get  up  a 
neat  printed  certificate  of  reward 
to  the  pupils  for  bringing  in  new 
scholars.  In  the  weekly  prayer- 
meeting  he  has  a  word  about  the 
school,  just  enough  to  enlist  the 
sympathies  and  prayers  of  those 
present.  Saturday  morning,  on 
opening  the  daily  paper  or  a  book, 
he  sees  a  striking  providence,  an 
interesting  fact  or  incident  of  life, 
which,  he  remembers  at  once,  will 
aptly  illustrate  or  enforce  an  im- 
portant truth  in  the  lesson  for  the 
next  Sabbath,  and  carefully  notes 
it  do\va  and  thinks  it  over,  and  in 
the  evening  we  find  him  full  of  hope 
and  interest  at  the  teachers'  meet- 
ing. Thus  close  his  labours  for  the 
week.  It  is  only  a  week !  but  how 
valuable  is  that  life  of  which  this  is 
but  a  week ! — Pardee. 

235.  Selected  Hints. — A  superin- 
tendent is  the  better  qualified  for  his 
duties  by  much  practical  experience 
as  a  teacher. 

He  should  take  a  deep  interest  in 
all  the  children,  and  strive,  as  far  as 
possible,  to  know  their  names. 

He  should  be  himself  an  example 
of  everytliing  he  wishes  the  teachers 
and  scholars  to  practise. 

He  should  be  courteous  to  strangers 
who  may  visit  the  school. 

Thi'ce    things     a    supcriatendent 


68 


SUICDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


Bhould  invariably  secure  in  Ms 
school — good  orde?',  solemnity,  and 
diligence  in  redeeming  the  time. 

In  all  attempts  at  discipline,  let 
him  remember  the  ride,  "Be  mild, 
but  firm." 

One  of  the  best  methods  of  dismis- 
sing, is  to  let  the  whole  school  sing 
a  familiar  hymn  while  the  scholars 
pass  through  the  aisles,  two  by  two 
— the  classes  following  in  proper 
order. 

Often  to  interrupt  a  school  with 
complaints  and  reproofs,  thus  making 
disorder  for  the  sake  of  preserving- 
order,  is  like  doing  good  that  evil 
may  come. 

The  habit  of  fault-finding,  as  well 
in  a  Sunday-school  as  elsewhere, 
destroys  respect  and  promotes  dislike. 

A  superintendent  should  observe 
punctuality,  to  a  minute,  in.  com- 
mencing the  exercises  at  the  appointed 
hour.  One  superintendent,  for  seven 
years,  was  never  absent  a  Sabbath 
from  his  school,  and  seldom  tardy  a 
moment.  Another  for  six  years  was 
absent  but  once. 

He  should  see  that  the  opening 
and  closing  exercises  of  the  school, 
whether  reading,  singing,  remarks, 
or  prayer  be  very  brief. 

He  should  often  go  from  class  to 
class,  with  a  word  of  instruction, 
advice,  encouragement  or  admoni- 
tion, to  scholars  and  teachers. 

The  superintendent  should  make 
himself  perfectly  familiar  with  the 
lesson. 

A  superintendent  should  devise 
plans  to  enlist  the  scholai's  in  the 
cause  of  missions,  temperance,  and 
all  the  objects  of  benevolence. 

He  should  always  meet  the  scholars 
with  exhibitions  of  affectionate 
interest;  notice  all  absentees,  and 
the  next  Sabbath  go  round  to  each 
and  learn  the  cause;  and  keep  a 
record  of  everything  encouraging,  or 
otherwise,  respecting  each  member  of 
the  school. 


He  should  daily  study  ways  and 
means,  and  weekly  make  thorough 
preparations,  to  give  variety  to  the 
exercises,  a,nd  secure  the  highest 
interest  and  efficiency  of  the  school. 
A  superintendent  has  been  known  to 
devote  two  whole  days,  weekly,  to 
these  preparations. 

He  should  become  personally 
acquainted  with  the  teachers,  their 
characters,  qualifications,  fidelity, 
and  methods  of  communicating  in- 
structions and  illustrating  truth. 

He  shoidd  feel  and  manifest  a  deep 
interest  in  teachers'  meetings  and  the 
concert  for  prayer. 

A  good  superintendent  will  be 
eminently  a  person  oi prayer. 

236.  Superintend  and  not  teach. 
— He  ought  to  superintend  the  school, 
to  watch    over    and    maintain    the 
general  conducting  of   the    school. 
However    capable    he   may   be    of 
teaching  a  class,  (and  we  have  no> 
hesitation  in  saying  that  he  ought  ta 
be  able  to  teach  in  any  class — senior,. 
Scripture,  or  infant;    for  how   else 
could  he  know  that  the  various  opera- 
tions of  the  school  were  being  con- 
ducted in  a   satisfactory  manner?) 
yet,  we  say,  it  is  not  his  business  to 
sit  down  in  a  class  and  teach.     The 
nature  of  his  office  determines  that 
his  duties  are  of  a  more  general  and 
extended  nature.     In  a  certain  sense 
we  may  say  that  the  teachers   are 
his  class,  and  he  should  see  that  they 
are,  each  and  all,  up  to  the  mark, 
and  doing  their  several  parts  in  the 
school.     Like  the  officer  in  the  army, 
his  duty  is  to  see  that  all  others  are 
doing  their  duty,  and,  as  far  as  pos- 
sible, take  care  that  every  hindrance 
is  removed  out   of  their  way,  and 
every  facility  afforded,   having  his 
eye  upon  the  whole  school,  and  his 
mind  familiar  with  all  its  various 
engagements.     He    should   prevent 
irregularities,  or  correct  them  when 
they  occur,  and  see  to  the  steady  and 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WORLD. 


69 


harmonious  working  of  the  entire 
machinery,  meeting  and  dealing  with 
circumstances  as  they  arise,  with 
wisdom,  prudence,  kmdness,  firm- 
ness, as  their  nature  may  require. 
He  is  the  person  to  conduct  or  control 
the  general  religious  services  of  the 
school,  and  provide  that  the  singing 
and  devotional  exercises  and  addresses 
are  carried  on  in  the  most  satisfactory 
and  profitable  manner  that  can  be 
attained;  not  engrossing  all  these 
duties  himself,  but  so  arranging 
them  as  to  call  into  use  all  the  avail- 
able talent  of  the  school,  and  encoura- 
girig  younger  brethren  in  the  exercise 
of  their  gilts,  at  the  same  time  keep- 
ing over  them  an  official  but  kindly 
control.  He  too  has  to  settle  the, 
sometimes,  delicate  matter  of  the 
appointment  of  teachers  to  classes, 
(unless  provided  for  by  some  special 
law  of  the  school,)  and  all  changes 
becoming  necessary  in  consequence 
of  a  teacher's  removal  from  the  school. 
He  too  should  preside,  in  the  absence 
of  the  pastor,  at  the  prayer-meetings, 
teachers'  meetings,  etc.  In  short, 
whatever  of  a  general  or  administra- 
tive character  there  is  to  do  in  or  for 
the  school,  the  superintendent  should 
be  more  or  less  ready  to  do  or  say. 
The  burden  of  the  school  may  be  said 
to  rest  on  his  shoulders,  and  he  should 
not  shrink  from  doing  anything  in 
his  power  that  may  be  for  its  advan- 
tage, for  the  comfort  of  the  teachers, 
or  the  benefit  of  the  children.  What 
he  ought  to  do!  Well,  he  ought  to  set 
an  example  to  the  lohole  school.  This 
he  surely  will  do ;  but  what  we  mean 
is,  that  he  should  present  one  which 
it  would  be  well  for  them  to  foUow ; 
an  example  of  early  and  regular 
attendance,  of  seriousness  of  deport- 
ment, of  earnestness  of  spuit,  of 
devotedness  to  the  work,  of  purity  of 
purpose,  of  thrilling  devotion,  of 
spiritual  anxiety,  of  untiring  zeal, 
of  holy  forbearance,  of  patient  perse- 
verance,  of    Christian    affection,   of 


self-renunciation,  of  diligent  prepara- 
tion, of  luiwea^Ting  effort  for  the 
good  of  the  schowl  and  the  promotion 
of  all  its  interests.  If  it  be  possible, 
he  should  be  at  every  meeting  of  the 
school  or  teachers;  he  should  lead 
them  on  in  every  attempt,  cheer  them 
in  every  difficulty,  and  encourage 
them  under  every  disappointment, 
ever  holding  up  to  their  minds  the 
greatness  and  glory  of  the  work  in 
which  they  are  engaged,  the  object 
at  which  they  should  aim,  and  the 
blessed  (though  Tuideserved)  reward 
which  every  faithful  teacher  shall  at 
last  attain.  But  he  ought,  as  far  as 
in  him  lies,  to  take  every  opportunity 
of  watching  over  and  promoting  the 
personal  piety  and  spiritual  projit  of 
especially  the  younger  portion  of  the 
teachers.  Many  young  Christians, 
even  while  labouring  for  the  good  of 
the  children,  themselves  want  the 
wise  direction,  the  tender  counsel, 
the  cheering  word,  the  encouraging 
sympathy,  the  sustaining  influence 
which  more  advanced  years  and  a 
larger  experience  could  so  often  im- 
part. And  how  could  a  superinten- 
dent be  more  effectually  doing  his 
work,  better  assisting  the  teachers, 
or  securing  their  confidence  and 
esteem,  than  by  a  kiadly,  faith- 
ful Chiistian  concern  for  their 
personal  religious  welfare,  meeting 
their  doubts,  removing  theu'  difiS.- 
culties,  urging  on  then-  progress, 
seeking  to  lead  them  on  to  higher 
attainments  in  religion,  and  greater 
adaptedness  for  usefulness  in  the 
work  in  which  they  are  engaged? 
These  are  parts  of  the  work  which, 
we  think,  every  superintendent  ought 
to  do,  and  in  doing  which  he  would 
find  a  great  reward. — American  S.S. 
Scrap)-hooh. 

237.  School  Duties, — Enter  your 
school-room  orderly  and  quickly;  put 
your  hat,  coat,  overshoes,  etc.,  away 
in  place  and  out  of  sight — no  matter 


70 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   T\-OELD. 


how  cold,  do  not  keep  any  of  them  on. 
Move  about  the  school-room  with  as 
little  noise  as  possible.  Look  at  the 
different  parts  of  the  room  to  see  if 
all  is  in  order,  if  the  room  has  the 
right  temperature,  and  see  that  a 
supply  of  pure  air  is  provided,  that 
the  fires  are  in  order,  etc.  Arrange 
your  desk  so  as  to  look  tidily  and  as 
tastefully  as  possible.  Put  on  the 
blackboard  the  central  thought  of  the 
lesson,  and  at  the  minute  for  opening 
strike  the  bell.  A  time-table  should 
be  arranged,  that  each  exercise  may 
have  its  exact  place  and  share  of  the 
hour  or  session.  Our  own,  some- 
times varied,  is  as  follows : — 

Meet  at  half-past  nine ;  singing, 
fifteen  minutes :  reading  lesson  in 
concert  or  alternately,  five  minutes  ; 


prayer,    three    minutes ; 


report    of 
minutes ; 


previous     Sabbath,     two 
lesson,  thirty  minutes. 

Superintendent — Review  of  lesson, 
blackboard,  or  object  lesson,  or 
remarks,  ten  minutes  ;  singing, 
fifteen  minutes ;  distribution  books, 
five  minutes  ;  Lord's  Prayer. 

"We  use  two  bells  ;  the  larger  one 
is  struck  for  order  at  half-past  nine. 
At  a  quarter  to  ten  the  smaller  one 
is  struck  for  the  doors  to  be  closed 
for  the  Scripture  and  prayer. 

At  the  close  of  the  report  or  open- 
ing exercises,  see  that  every  class  is 
provided  with  a  teacher ;  then,  that 
every  new  scholar  has  his  or  her 
name  registered,  and  is  placed  in  a 
class.  Speak  to  every  stranger,  in- 
viting all  to  come  again,  and  also  to 
join  the  school.  During  the  time 
occupied  by  the  lessons,  watch  your 
classes  and  try  and  judge  what  each 
one  may  need.  As  often  as  possible 
visit  your  infant  department ;  say  a 
few  land  words,  or  review  a  lesson, 
or  ask  them  to  sing  for  you.  At  the 
close  of  the  lessons,  ia  giving  a  black- 
board or  object  lesson,  or  in.  address- 
ing the  school,  let  every  one  feel  that 
you   are  interested   and  earnest  in 


what  you  do  or  say.  If  you  invite 
anyone  to  address  the  school,  give 
them  your  time,  and  only  ask  them 
to  take  it  when  yoa  are  quite  sure 
they  can  do  more  good  than  you  can. 
In  giving  your  notices,  let  them  be 
stated  so  that  all  can  hear  every 
word.  If  you  close  the  school  with 
the  Lord's  Prayer,  have  all  rise,  and 
wait  for  silence  before  you  commence, 
and  let  its  recital  be  a  prayer. 

Whenever  you  strike  your  bell  for 
orders  wait  till  it  is  still.  Do  not 
become  noisy  yourself  trying  to  get 
others  still.  The  best  way  is  to  fold 
your  arms,  and  wait  in  silence, 
looking  around  and  upon  any  person 
or  class  that  is  disorderly,  till,  catch- 
ing your  look,  they  become  quiet. — 
B.  F.  Jacobs. 

238.  His  Influence. —  Officially,- 
the  Sunday-school  siqicrintendent  is 
the  soul  of  the  system,  the  sjnrit  of 
the  body  with  which  he  is  connected. 
On  the  amount  of  his  intelligence, 
piety,  activity,  and  mental  qualifica- 
tions much  depends.  To  a  great 
extent,  what  he  is  the  school  will  be ; 
what  he  does  will,  most  likely,  give 
tone  for  good  or  evil  to  the  body  of 
teachers  over  whose  movements  he  is 
called  to  watch  and  to  preside ;  his 
views  will  be  very  likely  to  influence  to 
a  very  large  extent  (if  he  be  esteemed 
as  he  ought  to  deserve  to  be  esteemed) 
the  views  of  those  teachers,  more 
especially  the  younger  portion ;  and 
his  doings  and  shortcomings  will 
modify  the  whole  character  of  the 
school  and  those  associated  with  it. 
If  his  heart  is  warm,  glowing,  devo- 
tional, zealous,  burning  with  love  to 
souls,  with  fervent  desire  for  the  ex- 
tension of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom, 
and  especially  for  the  conversion  of 
the  young,  then  there  is  likely  to  be 
■\T.tality,  religious  earnestness,  a  sj)irit 
of  prayer,  a  seeking  and  longing  for 
the  spiritual  interests  of  the  chilcli'en, 
characterizing    the    efforts    of    the 


SrXDAT    SCHOOL   WOELD. 


71 


teacliers,  and  there  will  be  a  blessed 
atmosphere  of  piety  and  religion 
evidently  pervading  the  school,  and 
influencing  the  hearts  both  of  teachers 
and  taught.  If  he  be  a  man  of 
energy  and  activity,  there  ■will  be 
vigour  and  corresponding  activity 
iniiised  into  the  operations  of  the 
teachers,  and  the  general  conduct  of 
the  school.  Xot  only  will  suitable 
plans  be  devised,  but  they  will  be 
effectually  and  perseveringly  carried 
out  to  their  accomplishment,  either 
by  himself  or  the  secretary.  And  if 
he  be  a  man  of  prudence,  the  plans 
and  arrangement  of  the  school  are 
likely  to  be  wise  and  judicious,  and 
such  as  the  particular  necessities  of 
the  school  he  is  called  to  superintend 
may  require.  If  qualifications  such 
as  these  distinguish  or  characterize  a 
superintendent  of  a  school,  they  can- 
not fail  to  exert  an  influence ;  for, 
generally  speaking,  he  will  most 
likely  gather  around  him  and  attract 
to  his  school  spirits  somewhat  similar 
to  himself,  to  associate  in  holy  fellow- 
ship and  to  co-operate  in  holy  labours. 
But  if  he  be  the  reverse  of  all  or  any 
of  these  things,  or  if  there  be  a  gla- 
ring and  manifest  deficiency  in  all  or 
any  of  these  things,  then  there  is 
likely,  there  is  almost  sure,  to  be  a 
corresponding  effect  upon  the  in- 
fluence and  character  of  the  school 
generally,  as  well  as  upon  the  indi- 
vidual classes  and  teachers.  The 
whole  tone  of  the  school  will  be 
lowered,  the  results  will  be  unsatis- 
factory, and  the  religious  element 
brought  down  to  a  cold,  chilling 
temperature.  —  American  S.  S. 
Scrap-book. 

239.  He  obeys  Law. — i.  To  ob- 
serve and  enforce  the  rules  adopted 
by  the  Sunday-school  society.  A  su- 
perintendent is  not  an  autocrat,  but 
an  executive  officer,  responsible  to 
the  Sunday-school  society  and  the 
quarterly  conference.  He  is  bound, 
therefore,  to  respect  and  enforce  the 


rules  adopted  by  the  former,  and  the 
directions  which  may  be  given  by 
the  latter.  Hence,  obedience  to  law 
is  the  first  duty  of  a  superiatendent, 
and  the  necessary  condition  of  his 
authority  over  his  school.  He  must 
show  that  he  seeks  obedience  to  law, 
not  submission  to  his  own  will.  He 
must  obey  that  he  may  be  obeyed. 
In  this  country  teachers  and  scholars 
will  generally  obey  law,  and  respect 
authority  based  on  law;  but  they 
wlQ  rebel  against  authority  exer- 
cised without  law,  that  is,  against 
an  autocrat.  Hence,  every  superin- 
tendent should  arm.  to  be,  not  a  little 
autocrat,  but  the  efficient  admini- 
strator of  laws  by  which  he  governs 
himself,  his  scholars,  and  his  teachers. 
—Dr.  Wise. 

240.    He   administers   Law.  — 
2.   To  administer  the  programme  of 
school  exercises.     Usually  he  should 
be  permitted  to  arrange  the  pro- 
gramme according  to  his  own  judg- 
ment; but  whether  it  be  arranged 
by  himself  or  by  the    society,    it 
should    be   (1.)  Clearly   defined   in 
the  mind  of  the  superintendent.    He 
should  be  familiar  with   its   order 
and  with  all  its  details.  (2.)  It  should 
be  adapted  to  the  circumstances  of 
his  school.     It  would  be  absurd  to 
attempt  the  application  of  the  pro- 
gramme of  a  city  school  with  two 
sessions  and  ample  time,  to  a  country 
school  with  one  session  of  scarcely 
half  an  hour*  long.     Neither  is  the 
programme  of  one  city  or  country 
school  always  suited  to  every  other 
city    or    country   school.     In    their 
general  features  aU  programmes  must 
have  resemblances,  but  their  details 
should  be  modified  to  suit  circum- 
stances.    K'o  programme  should  be 
made  into  a  Procrustean  bedstead. 
(3.)  It  should  assign  time  and  place 
for  every  exercise.      A  programme 
should  be  a  time  table  as  well  as  an 
order  of  arrangement.      It    should, 
prescribe  the  length  of  each  exer- 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WOELD. 


cise,  always  securing  at  least  thirty 
minutes  for  the  uninterrupted  study 
of  the  lesson,  and  always  providing 
against  the  burden  of  long  prayers 
and  hymns  which  have  no  end.  (4.) 
It  should  be  rigidly  adhered  to  until 
replaced  by  a  new  one.  That  super- 
intendent who  permits  trifles  to  break 
in  upon  his  order  of  exercises  will 
demoralize  his  school.  Teachers  not 
knowing  whether  they  will  have  fif- 
teen minutes  or  fifty  in  which  to 
teach  will  not  be  likely  to  make  very 
thorough  preparation.  Scholars  ac- 
customed to  irregularity  will  be  rest- 
less with  expectation  and  queries  as 
to  what  will  come  next  and  when  it 
will  come.  But  with  allotted  time 
for  specified  duties  all  parties  will 
settle  down  to  the  work  of  the  hour. 
Hence  nothing,  not  even  the  unex- 
pected presence  of  an  eloquent 
stranger,  should  be  permitted  to 
break  up  the  order  of  arrangements, 
which,  by  the  way,  should  provide 
for  such  contingencies  as  the  one  just 
hinted  at.  (5.)  It  should  be  occa- 
sionally subject  to  re- arrangement. 
Human  nature  loves  variety  and 
wearies  with  unvarying  sameness. 
A  school  guided  for  years  by  the  best 
programme  in  existence  woidd  be- 
come mechanical  and  cold.  Hence 
the  details  of  school  exercises  should 
be  occasionally  changed  sufficiently 
to  give  freshness  and  vigoiu*  to  the 
proceedings.  Every  good  superin- 
tendent will  secure  a  good  pro- 
gramme, and  enforce  it  with  firm- 
ness and  suavity — in  the  spirit  of  a 
father  and  not  of  a  monarch. — Dr. 
Wise. 

241.  Summary  of  Duty, — The 
efficient  management  and  the  sucess- 
ful  working  of  a  Sunday-school  de- 
pend mainly  upon  the  person  who 
may  be  appointed  to  superintend  its 
concerns.  It  is  advisable  that  the 
superintendent  should  be  elected  to 
the  office  by  the  teachers  of    the 


school;  and  that  this  election  should 
be   annual.      If,   however,   his   ap- 
pointment be  made   by   any    other 
parties,  it  should  be  with  the  con- 
currence of  the  teachers  ;  that  they 
may  discharge  their    engagements, 
under  his   supervision,   with  good- 
will and   confidence.     The  superin- 
tendent is   to   act   as   the   head   of 
direction  and  influence,  but  strictly 
in  accordance  with  the  rules  and  re- 
gulations of  the  school.  His  govern- 
ment  should    be    characterised    by 
great  vigilance  and  affectionate  firm- 
ness ;  that  the  teachers  and  scholars 
may  be  constrained  to  devotedness 
and  good  conduct,  rather  than  coerced 
to  duty  and  obedience.     He  should 
present  the  rules   of  the   school  to 
the  teachers  received  on  probation, 
and  show  them  the  proper  method 
of    teaching     in     their     respective 
classes ;    and   afterwards   afford,    at 
all  times,  such  aid  as  they  may  need. 
He  should  appoint  the  teachers  and 
scholars  to  the  classes,  and  remove 
them  when  requisite.      He   should 
invariably  be  present  in  the  school, 
every   Sunday  morning   and   after- 
noon,  a  quarter  of  an  hour  before 
the  time  appointed  for  commencing ; 
observe  that  all  the  school  requisites 
are  put  in  their  proper  places;  and 
also   that  the    scholars   enter  their 
classes   and  take  their  seats  in  an 
orderly  manner.      The   superinten- 
dent is  to   see  that  the   devotional 
exercises    are    properly  conducted; 
and  that  the  time  alloted  to  these  ser- 
vices is  not  exceeded.  Either  himself, 
or  a   teacher  previously   appointed, 
should  begin  the  school  by  giving  out 
a  hymn    to  be    sung,  and  offering 
prayer.     A   short  portion   of  Holy 
Scripture    may   also    be    read,    but 
without  comment.    The  opening  ser- 
vice should  not  occupy  more  than  ten 
minutes.    TheYolume  of  "Prayers" 
published    by     the     Sunday-school 
Union,  and  the  "Introductory  Ob- 
servations"   to    that    volume^   will 


SUIfDAT   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


73 


afford  help  in  rightly  conducting  the 
exercise  of  prayer;  and  if  teachers 
and  scholars  be  provided  with  The 
Union  Musical  Publications  (espe- 
cially those  used  in  the  school),  it 
will  greatly  facilitate  the  introduc- 
tion of  good  singing.  In  making 
appointments  for  fulfilling  the  devo- 
tional engagements,  the  qualifica- 
tions of  the  persons  selected  should 
be  specially  regarded.  When  the 
devotional  exercises  are  concluded, 
the  superintendent  should  observe 
that  the  scholars  are  quietly  seated. 
He  should  then  see  that  every  class 
is  supplied  WT.th  a  teacher;  and  if 
any  teacher  be  absent,  or  not  present 
in  time,  he  should  provide  for  the 
defi-ciency,  either  by  joining  two 
classes,  or  by  requesting  a  senior 
scholar,  or  other  suitable  person  then 
present,  to  supply  the  vacant  place. 
He  should  now  attend  to  the  chil- 
dren brought  for  admission  (whose 
names  will  by  this  time  have  been 
entered  by  the  secretary) ;  giving 
such  advice  as  may  be  necessary  to 
their  parents  or  friends  who  may  be 
present.  He  should  examine  these 
children,  and  inform  the  secretary 
as  to  the  classes  in  which  they  are 
about  to  be  placed ;  and  then  in- 
troduce them  to  their  respective 
teachers.  His  time  is  afterwards  to 
be  entirely  devoted  to  the  superin- 
tendence of  teaching  ;  vigilantly 
observing  that  all  the  classes  are 
properly  occupied  and  instructed ; 
interfering,  when  needful,  to  re- 
press any  irregularity ;  and  taking 
care  that  the  scholars  do  not 
speak  louder  than  is  necessary  for 
their  teachers  to  hear  them  distinctly. 
He  should  occasionally  go  into  the 
classes,  to  ascertain  how  the  teachers 
communicate  instruction ;  that  he 
may  be  prepared  to  give  them, 
privately,  such  advice  as  he  may 
consider  desirable.  Whenever  the 
superintendent  gives  the  order,  or 
signal,  for  the  close  of  teaching,  he 


should  require  all  the  teachers  to 
keep  their  classes  perfectly  quiet, 
and  under  proper  control.  The 
superintendent  should  see  that  the 
teachers  lead  their  respective  classes, 
in  an  orderly  manner,  to  the  place 
of  worship,  and  take  care  that  they 
are  properly  seated.  He  should 
also,  by  previous  arrangement,  pro- 
vide that  one  of  the  officers,  or  an 
influential  teacher  of  the  school, 
remains  with  the  children,  together 
with  a  sufficient  number  of  other 
teachers,  to  preserve  order.  In  some 
instances  the  plan  has  been  adopted 
of  requiring  the  superintendent  to 
be  present,  and  all  the  teachers  to 
remain  with  their  respective  classes 
during  di^dne  service.  The  previous 
details  of  the  superintendent's  morn- 
ing duties  at  school  will,  for  the 
most  part,  be  applicable  to  the  en- 
gagements of  the  afternoon.  When 
teaching  has  ceased  in  the  afternoon, 
the  notices  of  meetings,  which  con- 
cern the  teachers  or  scholars,  are  to 
be  given  by  the  superintendent.  He 
should  then  call  on  the  person  pre- 
viously appointed  to  give  out  a 
hymn,  deliver  a  brief  address,  and 
close  with  a  short  prayer.  These 
exercises  should  not  exceed  twentj^- 
five  minutes.  When  they  are  con- 
cluded, the  superintendent  is  to 
observe  that  the  teachers  and 
scholars  are  seated,  and  perfectly 
still.  The  hats,  caps,  &c.,  are 
then  to  be  distributed.  He  is  then 
to  direct  each  class  to  leave  the 
school  quietly  :  the  girls  should  pass 
out  fiirst,  and  suitable  arrangement 
should  be  made  that  the  scholars  go 
away  without  confusion  or  noise. 
Part  of  the  time  occupied  in  dis- 
missing the  school  may  be  employed 
in  singing  by  a  few  scholars,  who 
may  remain  until  the  last ;  but  if 
there  be  any  confusion,  the  singing 
ought  immediately  to  be  stopped. 
The  superintendent  should  see  that 
the  printed  forms,  used  for  the  pe- 


71 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


riodical  reports  of  the  officers  and 
teachers,  are  issued  at  the  proper 
times,  and  also  that  they  are  duly- 
returned,  and  accurately  filled  up. 
His  own  monthly  report  of  the  state 
of  the  school,  and  his  quarterly  and 
annual  summaries  of  the  reports  of 
the  officers  and  teachers,  should  be 
models  worthy  of  imitation.  To 
maintain  the  proper  classification  of 
scholars,  the  superintendent  should 
examine  the  classes  at  a  time  ap- 
pointed for  the  purpose,  and,  when 
absolutely  necessary,  remove  the 
scholars  to  other  classes.  This  exa- 
mination should  be  completed  pre- 
viously to  the  last  Sunday  in  a 
quarter,  that  the  new  quarterly  lists 
in  the  Roll  Book  and  Class  Registers 
may  be  correctly  prepared.  The 
superintendent  should  invariably  act 
with  impartiality,  maintaining  dis- 
cipline with  firmness,  yet  blended 
with  kindness  ;  that  peace  and  har- 
mony may  prevail,  and  the  pros- 
perity of  the  school  be  thereby 
advanced. — S.  S.  Hand-book. 


DISCIPLINE. 

It  is  the  duty  of  a  superintendent  to 
maintain  order.  A  disorderly  school 
is  a  nuisance  ;  at  least  its  disorder  is 
a  nuisance,  which  should  be  abated. 
The  fact  that  a  school  is  habitually 
disorderly  demonstrates  the  incom- 
petency of  its  superintendent.  It 
shows  that  he  lacks  those  adminis- 
trative qualities  to  which  both  adults 
and  children  defer  whenever  they 
see  them  embodied  in  a  man.  Hence 
a  superintendent  who  cannot  reduce 
a  school  to  order  should  promptly 
resign  his  office,  and  the  Sunday- 
school  should  as  promptly  accept  his 
resignation.  A  successful  superin- 
tendent in  maintaining  order  will  do 
so,  (1.)  By  quiet  self-possession. 
He    will   neither  bluster   nor    use 


many  words,  but  standing  at  his 
post,  self-poised,  with  a  pleasant 
face,  a  calm,  dignified,  determined 
manner,  and  a  voice  not  ringing 
with  the  tone  of  either  timid  or 
harsh  command,  but  with  the  ma- 
jestic music  of  self-reliance  and 
unquestioning  expectation  of  obe- 
dience, he  will  subdue  all  around 
him  to  the  observance  of  law,  which 
is  order.  (2.)  He  will  employ  the 
call  bell.  In  his  hands  the  call  bell 
is  not  a  noisy  addition  to  prevailing 
confusion,  but  it  is  a  stirring  voice 
uttering  his  wiU.  Firmly  struck  by 
a  hand  which  means  to  rule,  its 
strokes  will  command  silence,  atten- 
tion, and  obedience.  Of  course  it 
must  be  itself  under  known  rules, 
and  every  superintendent  will  see 
that  the  meaning-  of  its  voice  is 
understood  beforehand,  so  that  one 
stroke  wiU  always  mean  preparation, 
two  attention  or  silence,  &c.,  as  may 
be  determined  and  explained  by  that 
officer  at  appropriate  times.  (3.)  He 
will  employ  the  power  of  silence.  A 
good  superintendent  never  tries  to 
talk  a  school  to  order.  He  knows  it 
cannot  be  done.  But  having  struck 
his  bell,  he  will  stand  silently  waiting 
for  quiet,  which  always  comes  in  a 
school,  as  it  does  everywhere,  in  re- 
sponse to  this  power.  I  once  saw  an 
angry  political  audience  calmed  by 
the  unfiinching  attitude  and  silence 
of  the  man  they  at  first  refused  to 
hear  speak.  Every  efiective  super- 
intendent knows  the  power  of  silence, 
and  he  never  fails  to  use  it.  (4.)  He 
will  hold  each  teacher  responsible 
for  the  order  of  his  class.  The  duty 
of  the  superintendent  is  to  secure 
general  order — not  the  order  of  a 
single  class,  or  of  an  individual 
scholar  only,  but  of  the  entire  school. 
Now  to  do  this  by  the  exercise  of 
his  personal  authority  and  watch- 
fulness over  every  individual  in  a 
school  numbering  hundreds  is  simply 
impossible.     Still  the  order  of  each. 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WOKLD. 


75 


individual  is  essential  to  the  order 
of  the  whole.  How,  then,  shall  he 
achieve  this  order  ?  Just  as  dis- 
cipline is  achieved  in  an  army — by 
a  division  of  authority  and  responsi- 
hility.  In  an  army  each  oflB,cer  is 
responsible  for  his  command  to  his 
next  higher  officer,  from  the  corporal 
to  the  general  of  a  corps.  The  former 
must  account  for  the  behaviour  of  his 
squad  to  his  sergeant,  the  latter  for 
his  corps  to  his  general-in- chief,  and 
so  with  all  the  intermediate  officers. 
The  result  is  that  the  orders  of  a 
general-in-chief  are  observed  by  a 
million  men.  The  effective  super- 
intendent will  apply  this  principle 
to  his  school  by  holding  each  teacher 
responsible  for  the  order  of  his  class. 
In  appljdng  it  he  will  never,  except 
"by  request  of  a  teacher,  call  a  noisy 
scholar  to  order,  but  will  require  the 
teacher  to  correct  the  unruly  child. 
Such  a  course,  by  acknowledging  the 
authority  of  the  teacher,  elevates 
him  in  the  esteem  of  his  pupils, 
while  an  opposite  one  lowers  him. 
If  a  teacher  habitually  fail  to  main- 
tain order  in  his  class,  the  super- 
intendent should  report  the  fact  to 
the  society  at  its  monthly  or  quar- 
terly meeting,  by  which  he  should 
be  either  reformed  or  expelled.  By 
these  means  no  superintendent  who 
is  at  all  qualified  for  his  office  will 
failof  maintaining  order. — Z)r.  JFise. 

242.  Self-possession  Needful. — 
He  should  maintain  good  discipline 
and  orde)',  both  for  himself  and  his 
school.  Sometimes  the  most  dis- 
orderly man  in  the  whole  school  is 
the  superintendent.  The  two  ele- 
ments of  good  order  are  self-control 
and  good  temper.  Let  no  man  think 
he  can  control  others  unless  he  can 
control  himself.  It  will  be  in  vain 
for  him  to  insist  on  order,  punc- 
tuality, and  regard  to  all  the  rules 
of  the  school,  unless  he  himself  is  a 
living  example  of  strict  conformity 


to  them  all.  When  he  calls  the 
school  to  order,  let  him  always  wait 
patiently,  in  silence,  until  every 
teacher,  every  scholar,  officer,  and 
visitor,  is  in  perfect  order,  before  he 
names  a  hymn  or  proceeds  to  do  the 
least  thing. — Pardee. 

243.  How  to  get  Order.— If  dis- 
order of  any  kind  springs  up,  stop 
the  recitation  at  once,  and  do  not  go 
on  till  you  have  the  absolute  atten- 
tion of  each  scholar.  It  is  worse 
than  foolishness  to  be  talking  to  one 
member  of  your  class  while  other 
members  are  talking  to  each  other, 
or  are  busy  with  something  foreign, 
to  the  lesson. — House, 

244.  Putting  and  Keeping  in 
Order. — Government  has  two  points 
or  elements ;  first,  putting  in  order ; 
second,  keeping  in  order.  No  one 
can  keep  that  in  order  which  is  not 
first  put  in  order.  Putting  in  order 
implies  some  pilaji  of  order.  The 
coaxing  or  chilling  a  hundi'ed  people 
into  a  momentary  quietness  is  not 
getting  them  into  order.  Order  im- 
plies system,  plan,  and  purpose — a 
study  of  the  fitness  of  means  to  ends. 
Order,  to  be  perfect,  must  be  com- 
plete and  comprehensive.  If  some 
things  are  put  in  order  and  others 
are  not,  then  disorder  is  invited 
through  open  doors.  Whatever  is 
not  in  order,  is  itself  a  disorder. 
Here  lies  the  fault  of  poor  governors. 
They  govern  in  patches.  The  good 
school  governor  puts  everything  in 
order;  persons,  movements,  tunes, 
things.  He  will  arrange  his  classes 
^dth  an  eye  to  comfort,  convenience, 
taste.  He  will  drill  his  classes  to 
move  in  quiet,  and  with  order,  when- 
ever they  have  occasion  to  change 
seats,  to  visit  the  library,  or  to  leave 
the  school.  He  wiU  especially  keep 
time,  beginning  each  exercise  at  its 
time,  and  confining  it  to  its  time. 
He  will  see  that  every  article  in  the 
room  is  kept  in  place,  and  that  the 


e2 


76 


STTNDAY  SCHOOL   WOBLD. 


room  itself  is  a  scene  of  perpetual 
neatness  and  order.  And,  finally, 
lie  will  keep  himself  in  order, — a 
model  of  quiet  and  intelligent  atten- 
tion to  his  own  business.  The  poor 
governor  often  sins  against  all  these 
requirements,  but  especially  against 
the  last.  Mistaking  confusion  for 
the  activity  of  earnest  work,  and 
noise  for  enthusiasm,  he  is  never  con- 
tent unless  he  is  stirring  up  himself 
and  all  around  him  into  a  perpetual 
hurly-burly.  The  preservation  of 
order  requires  that  each  disorder  be 
suppressed  the  moment  it  appears ; 
not  by  angrily  creating  a  greater 
disorder,  but  by  restoring  as  quietly 
as  possible  the  old  order.  The  most 
effective  school  governors  merely 
pause  whenever  a  disturbance  occurs, 
and  wait  a  minute  for  quiet  to  be 
restored,  and  then  go  on  in  order. 
Keeping  order  implies  also  progress 
in  order — a  live  order,  growing  ever 
into  new  and  fresh  plans  and  aims, 
not  a  mere  dead  and  fossil  order, 
which  perpetually  does  the  same 
thing  in  the  same  way.  The  fore- 
going hints  contain  for  the  thought- 
ful reader  the  very  gist  of  the  subject 
of  government.  A  few  more  specific 
suggestions  of  plans  will  be  accept- 
able to  many  superintendents.  (1.) 
Let  the  superintendent  gain  and  em- 
ploy the  attention  of  the  school  from 
the  outset.  A  good  plan  is  to  train  the 
pupils  to  move  as  quietly  as  possible 
to  their  seats  when  the  hour  comes, 
while  a  hymn  is  sung,  so  familiar  that 
all  can  join  in  it  without  a  book.  (2.) 
Let  him  pause  tUL  every  one  is  still, 
before  beginning  the  introductory 
exercises ;  and  when  any  disturbance 
or  noise  occurs,  let  him  wait  a  mi- 
nute for  all  to  get  still  again.  (3.) 
Let  the  time  for  beginning  the  reci- 
tations be  distinctly  announced,  and 
let  no  interruptions  of  other  business 
mar  the  quiet  and  beauty  of  that 
sacred  time.  It  is  due  to  the  teach- 
ers and  their  pupils  that  this  hour 


be  given  to  the  great  central  work  of 
the  school,  with  nothing  to  hinder 
its  impressiveness  and  success.     No 
impertinent  visits   of  librarians  or 
other  officers  should  be  allowed,  and 
the     superintendent's     o^tl     visits 
should    be   so   quiet    as   to   attract 
the  attention  of  none  but  the  class 
visited    by  him.      (4.)    When   the 
recitations  close,  let  all  the  classes 
cease  at  once,  and  let  the  general 
work  of  changing  books,  and  making 
collections  be  the  business  of  its  own 
allotted  time.     (5.)  Let  some  general 
exercise    again    restore    quiet    and 
thoughtfulness    to   close  with,    and 
before    any  marked   uneasiness  be- 
gins,   dismiss   the   school,   not  as  a 
whole,  but  class  by  class,  each  filing 
out   in   order  and   silence,    lest  the 
noise  and  crowd  of  the  breaking  up 
spoil  all  the  good  impressions  of  the 
hour.       (6.)    Make    the   government 
one  of  influence  and  example,  rather 
than    of   hard   authority.     Let  the 
order  be  felt  rather  than  seen.     The 
highest    art  conceals  its  artfulness. 
Happy   the  superintendent  who  can 
make  the  nicely  adjusted  system  he 
uses    seem    the    easy   and    natural 
course  of  things,  and  while  he  rules 
his  school  never  show  he  rules.    The 
quiet,    sacred,     home    feeling,    the 
pleasant,    but    impressive    religious 
atmosphere,    the    sense   of  worship 
prevailing  over   the  sense  of  work, 
these  should  never  be  lost  sight  of, 
in     the     true     Sunday-school.      A 
superintendent  may  well  take  pride 
in  the  quiet,  and  the  good  govern- 
ment of  his  school.     That  beautiful 
scene  of  sacred  order,  repeated  every 
Sabbath,  will  imprint  itself  inefface- 
ably  upon  the  memory  of  the  pupils, 
and  will   return  with   a  hallowing 
power  to  them  in  after  years.     The 
very  lessons  they  study  and  recite 
gather  a  new  sacredness  and  power 
to  influence  from  the  impressiveness 
of  the  surrounding   scenes.      It    is 
the  golden  setting  of  the  picture,  the 


STTKDAT   SCHOOL   WOULD. 


77 


rytkmic  tune-beat  in  the  heavenly 
music,  the  assuring  guerdon  of  the 
coveted  good,  the  one  comprehensive 
condition  of  the  highest  success. — 
J.  M.  Grego7'y. 

245.  The  Superintendent's  Man- 
ner.— Let  his  commands  be  given  in 
a  mild,  yet  prompt,  decided  manner, 
and  they  will  be  obeyed.  Let  them 
be  given  in  an  imploring,  drawling 
tone,  as  if  he  did  not  half  expect  to 
be  obeyed,  and  the  lU-mannered 
boys  and  guis  who  have  had  no 
proper  training  will  laugh  him  in 
the  face.  The  superintendent  must 
give  few  and  reasonable  commands  ; 
must  not  threaten  or  scold;  must 
not  bluster  or  make  a  show  of  him- 
self; must  be  everywhere  and  see 
everything  ;  attend  personally  to  all 
matters  of  the  school,  great  or  small, 
and  yet  must  not  appear  to  do  all 
this.  He  must  not  talk  much,  but 
when  he  does  speak  he  must  be  at 
once  obeyed.  When  a  horse  has 
once  mastered  his  driver,  there  is  no 
hope  of  him  but  m  changing  owners, 
and  he  will  need  a  E-arey  thereafter. 
— Ziori's  Herald, 

246.  Example  of  Discipline. — 
An  instance  of  discipline  will  show 
the  sympathy  of  the  school.  "  It 
appeared  that  two  of  the  boys  had 
misbehaved,  and  were,  of  course, 
injuring  the  rest  of  their  class.  The 
school  was  called  to  order,  and  the 
usual  exercises  suspended  by  the 
superintendent.  He  then  informed 
the  children  that  something  was 
about  to  take  place  quite  unusual 
among  them,  but  which,  he  regretted 
to  say,  was  exceedingly  necessary. 
After  some  very  appropriate  remarks, 
the  two  boys  were  called  up  to  the 
head  of  the  room,  in  view  of  the 
whole  school.  The  teacher  was  then 
requested  to  state  the  offences  of 
which  they  had  been  guilty ;  and 
every  other    teacher  in    the  room 


desired  to  give  his  views  of  the 
matter.  Afterwards  the  superinten- 
dent spoke  some  time  on  the  nature 
of  their  conduct,  and  the  conse- 
quences that  might  result  from  it. 
'  And  now,  children/  said  he,  ad- 
dressing the  whole  school,  'what 
shall  we  do  with  these  boys  ?  Shall 
we  expel  them  ?  I  want  every  child 
who  is  in  favour  of  their  expulsion 
to  rise.'  The  children  in  favour  of 
this  course  arose,  and  strange  to  say, 
there  were  nine  only  out  of  about 
one  hundi'ed  and  eighty  who  were  in 
favour  of  expulsion !  The  superin- 
tendent then  inquired  what  was  to 
be  done  with  the  two  boys ;  they 
ought  not  to  be  suffered  to  injure 
those  around  them.  '  Try  them  a 
little  longer,^  was  the  answer ;  and 
accordingly  they  were  permitted  to 
remain  on  trial  for  six  weeks  longer." 
In  all  such  cases,  the  superintendent 
requires  judgment,  firmness,  and 
persuasion  mingled  with  authority. 
But  discipline  of  this  kind,  judi- 
ciously administered,  will  always  do 
good.  The  whole  school,  teachers 
and  pupils,  will  feel  it. — Todd. 

247.  Noisy  Superintendents. — 
Some  superintendents  make  too  much 
noise  in  governing.  We  heard  one, 
a  short  time  since,  call  out  with  a 
stentorian  voice,  distui'bing  the  entire 
school,  causing  every  child  and  every 
teacher,  for  the  moment,  to  be  dis- 
orderly— ''James,  I  will  not  have 
such  behaviour  in  the  school;  be 
quiet  directly."  He  was  at  least 
four  yards  from  the  boy;  and  we 
noticed,  with  regret,  one  attentive 
class  of  girls  so  disturbed  by  the  un- 
necessary interruption,  that  interest 
was  not  restored  in  the  lesson  under 
review  without  considerable  difficulty. 
A  superintendent  acting  thus  un- 
wisely weakens  his  authority,  and 
destroys  his  influence. — Davids. 

248.  An  infallible  recipe. — Ring 
the    bell    often;    do    an    excessive 


78 


STnn)AT   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


amount  of  talking-  on  an  elevated 
key  ;  call  frequently  on  the  room  to 
be  still ;  tell  how  much  better  other 
schools  are  than  your  own ;  make  a 
second  speech;  ring  the  bell  again 
with  a  quick,  jerking  motion,  and 
insist  upon  silence,  but  do  not  be 
silent  yourself  for  an  instant  even. 
In  this  way  you  will,  with  absolute 
certainty,  have  a  turbulent,  unruly, 
noisy  school,  and  you  yourself,  as 
superintendent,  will  be  chiefly  to 
blame  for  it  all. — House. 

249.  Securing  order. — A  superin- 
tendent of  a  mission-school,  being 
annoyed  by  the  noise,  Anally,  in 
appealing  to  the  boys,  said:  "Now, 
let's  see  if  we  can't  hear  a  pin  drop  ?" 
All  was  silence,  when  a  little  fellow 
in  the  back  part  of  the  room  turning 
his  ear  and  bending  forward  in 
breathless  attention  spoke  out,  "  Let 
her  drop .'" — American  S.  S.  Times. 


EELATIOIJ  TO  TEAOHEKS  AND 
SCHOLARS. 

250.  Eespect  for  Teachers.  — 
He  should  likewise  sincerely  respect 
all  his  teachers,  and  treat  them 
accordingly.  Especially  should  he 
respect  the  weakest  and  most  ineffi- 
cient of  his  teachers.  He  will  have 
the  more  to  do  to  aid  them,  and  he 
must  needs  visit,  counsel,  suggest, 
and  instruct  them  often.  I  have 
always  found  it  better  to  elevate 
and  improve  inefficient  teachers  than 
to  dismiss  them. — Pardee. 

251.  Quiet  Power.  — What  is 
wanting  is  an  influence, — the  influ- 
ence of  prayer, — of  real  religious 
character  and  personal  example, — a 
pervading  spirit  of  aflectionate  con- 
fidence, mutual  and  engaging,  be- 
tween children  and  teachers  and 
superintendent.      And  his  presence 


and  influence  must  be  felt  in  every 
portion  of  the  work.  Evils  are  to 
be  remedied  by  prevention.  Diffi- 
culties are  to  be  anticipated.  And 
a  faithful  and  qualified  superinten- 
dent will  carry  round  with  him  that 
gentle  and  gracious  authority  which 
requires  no  vehemence ;  that  per- 
sonal character  which  attracts  and 
governs  by  attracting,  rather  than 
by  any  language  of  rebuke  or  dis- 
pleasure.— Dr.  Tyng. 

252.  Disinterestedness.  —  He 
should  also  be  disinterested,  and 
never  overshadow  his  teachers. 
They  are  the  great  workers,  and 
his  great  work  is  to  help  the  teachers 
in  the  teaching.  He  should  not 
forestall  or  overshadoio  the  teachers' 
work  by  an  exposition  of  the  lesson 
at  the  opening  of  the  school,  so  as  to 
leave  the  teachers  nothing  to  do  but 
to  glean  after  the  superintendent. 
His  remarks  and  reviews  of  the 
lesson  should  usually  come  after  the 
teachers  have  taught  the  lesson. — 
Pardee. 

253  At  the  Teachers'  Meeting. — 
Mr.  Ralph  WeUs  thinks  the  teachers' 
meeting  should  ordinarily  be  con- 
ducted by  the  superintendent.  Let 
the  meeting  be  opened  with  singing 
a  hymn,  and  a  short  prayer.  Then 
let  each  teacher  produce  his  thoughts 
on  the  lesson,  his  illustrations,  and 
suggestions. 

254.  Form  of  Teachers'  Meeting. 
— The  Sunday-school  connected  with 
Rev.  Thomas  K.  Beecher's  Church, 
Elniira,  N.  Y.,  is  one  of  the  largest 
and  most  prosperous  in  the  country. 
The  teachers'  meetings  in  this  school 
adhere  to  a  uniform  programme. 
At  the  present  time,  the  school  is 
just  closing  its  fourth  year,  "  and," 
says  the  pastor,  "  with  new  and  ab- 
sorbing interest." 

The  skeleton  of  the  teachers'  meet- 
ing held  by  the  school  is  tl^is : 


StrNDAT   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


1.  Eoll-call  at  an  exact  hour. 

2.  Prayer. 

3.  Recitation  of  lesson  memoriter, 
tlie  class  being  paired  off,  that  all 
may  recite.  Sometimes  a  unison 
recitation  additional. 

4.  Mark  results  of  recitation  in 
roll-book,  and  note  the  tardy  ones. 

5.  Drill  by  the  instructor,  as  if 
the  teachers  "were  one  large  Sunday- 
school  class. 

a.  No  books  allowed. 

h.  Questions  asked  and  answered 
**  eye  to  eye." 

c.  Three  grades  of  questions — 
suited  to  three  grades  of  classes  in 
Sunday-school. 

Grade  1.  Questions  so  put  that 
they  can  be  answered  in  the  language 
of  the  lesson,  without  any  other 
help  or  knowledge. 

Grade  2.  Questions  —  to  answer 
which  more  or  less  of  intelligent 
reasoning  or  research  is  needed. 
Much  instruction  here. 

Grade  3.  Questions  which  involve 
the  spiritual  or  religious  doctrine 
and  application. 

6.  Questions  or  imremoved  diffi- 
culties are  then  propounded  by  the 
class,  till  expiration  of  the  hour. 

Hymns,  as  well  as  scriptural 
lessons,  are  memorised  by  the  teachers 
and  recited  at  their  meeting.  "What- 
ever is  required  of  Sunday-school 
pupils  is  fii'st  required  and  performed 
by  the  Sunday-school  teachers. 

"  The  ivhole  art^^^  says  Mr. 
Beecher,  ''  of  teaching^  is  in  the 
trained  faculty  of  questioning.''^ 

255.  Eeciprocal  Duty  of  Teachers. 
— Never  speak  ill  of  yoiu*  superin- 
tendent before  any  member  of  your 
class,  or  a  fellow -teacher,  or  before 
any  person,  indeed.  If  you  see  de- 
fects in  his  management  or  his  cha- 
racter, nothing  of  gain  will  come  to 
the  school  or  yourself  by  your  men- 
tion of  them.  He  has  much  to  bear, 
much  to   try  his  temper,  much  to 


discourage  him.  He  often  sees 
classes  with  the  teacher  absent ;  he 
has  been  compelled  to  reprove  an 
unruly  scholar,  and  reports  im- 
friendly  to  him  have  been  carried 
home ;  he  has  heard  of  some  over- 
sensitive or  discouraged  teacher  who 
has  resolved  to  leave  the  school,  who 
needs  soothing ;  he  has  had  pro- 
mises from  teachers  to  attend  the 
teachers'  meeting,  and  they  have  not 
been  kept ;  he  has  seen  and  felt  a 
thousand  things  that  you  have  not, 
and  now  he  needs  for  his  highest 
success  that  you  and  every  other 
teacher  should  lend  a  heart  of  purest, 
clearest,  warmest  sympathy.  Never, 
never,  then,  say  or  do  aught  that 
would  destroy  confidence  in  him. — 
House. 

256.  Support  your  Superintendent. 
— Stand  by  your  superintendent. 
He  may  not  be  the  best  man;  he 
"does  many  things  wrong.  But  for 
the  sake  of  the  school,  for  the  sake  of 
the  cause  of  Christ,  give  him  a  gene- 
rous support.  Let  him  feel  that 
every  teacher  is  a  friend. — Edward 
Egglesto7i. 


257. 


The  best  army  has  been 


routed,  and  the  tide  of  victory  rolled 
suddenly  back  by  the  fall  of  a  leader. 
The  army  remained  the  same,  the 
courage  the  same,  but  they  could  do 
nothing  without  the  presiding,  dii'ect- 
ing  mind.  What  Xenophon  says  to 
generals,  may  also  be  said  with  equal 
propriety  to  those  whom  God  has 
raised  up  to  be  the  leaders  among 
His  people.— "All  the  soldiers  direct 
their  eyes  to  you,  if  they  behold  you 
dispirited,  they  themselves  will  be 
cowards.  But  if  you  appear  prepar- 
ing to  attack  the  enemy,  and  en- 
courage them  onward,  be  assured 
they  wiU  follow  you,  and  attempt  to 
imitate  you.  And  it  is  fit  that  you 
should  excel  them." — Todd. 

258.  Do  not  fetter  him, — If  he  has 


80 


STINDAT   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


any  ability  for  Ms  office  give  him.  a 
chance  to  work  out  his  plans.  He 
cannot  succeed  without  freedom,  and 
if  he  has  not  the  elements  of  success 
all  the  constitutions,  bye-laws,  and 
orders  of  exercise  you  can  adopt  will 
not  improve  him.  You  can  explain 
your  wishes,  and  if  he  is  a  wise  man 
he  will  not  let  them  pass  unheeded. 
But  do  not  put  him  into  straight- 
jackets  and  then  expect  him  to  work 
successfully. — Edward  Eggleston. 

259.  A  Plan  for  Oommunication 
between  Superintendents  and  Tea- 
chers.— We  had  long  felt  that  there 
was  not  sufficient  means  of  com- 
munication between  the  teachers  and 
their  superintendent,  the  latter  being 
so  busy  during  the  whole  of  school- 
time  on  Simday,  and  his  time  taken 
up  with  such  a  variety  of  little  mat- 
ters, that  the  teachers  had  but  few 
opportunities  of  speaking  to  him  in 
private,  and  bringing  before  his 
notice  many  things  they  might  wish 
with  reference  to  their  classes.  At 
last  it  was  suggested,  "  If  we  cannot 
find  an  opportunity  of  speaking  to 
our  superintendent,  why  cannot  we 
write  down  what  we  wish  to  say, 
and  thus  draw  his  attention  to  any- 
thing we  want  him  to  notice  ?  "  The 
hint  was  acted  upon  at  once ;  a  small 
blank  ruled  book  was  procured,  and 
the  following  directions  written  on 
the  title  page : — 

Sunday-school.  Teachers' 

SuGaESTioN  Book. 
Tou  are  requested  to  write  only  on  the  left- 
hand  page,  leaving  the  other  for  the  superin- 
tendent's reply ;  also  always  to  give  the  date, 
and  the  number  of  the  class. 

This  book  lies  on  the  superinten- 
dent's desk,  and  may  be  used  at  any 
time  during  morning  or  afternoon 
school.  "VVe  now  got  on  famously  ; 
the  teachers  were  no  longer  afraid 
of  *'  troubling  "  the  superintendent ; 
the  children  were  not  left  to  amuse 
themselves  while  the  teacher   was 


gone  to  '*  speak  to  the  superinten- 
dent," as  one  child  could  always  be 
sent  to  ask  for  the  "  Suggestion 
Book ;  "  and  I  may  also  add,  that 
many  things  can  be  entered  in  this 
book  which  the  teachers  might  per- 
haps hesitate  to  say  by  word  of 
mouth. 

I  submit  two  or  three  specimens, 
taken  at  random,  of  the  suggestions 
offered  ;  and  the  fact  of  the  book 
being  so  frequently  used,  is  a  proof 
of  its  due  appreciation  by  the 
teachers. 


TEACHERS' 
SUGGESTIONS. 

June  — ,  1860.  CI. 
2.  —  The  habit  of 
bringing  fruit  and 
sweetmeats  to  school 
seems  sadly  increas- 
ing. Will  the  super- 
intendent speak  vei-y 
strongly  both  to 
teachers  and  children 
on  the  subject? 

June  — .  CI.  8.— 
M.  F.  very  naughty ; 
said  several  bad 
words,  and  very  dis- 
obedient. 


June,  CI.  4.— The 
children  say  to  me 
sometimes,  "  What  is 
the  good  of  giving 
money  to  the  Mis- 
sionarj'-box  ?  we  do 
not  get  any  good  by 
it."  Will  you  kindly 
answer  this  question 
in  your  address  ? 

June,  — .  CI.  4.— 
Do  you  not  think 
that  much  of  the  sad 
indifference  of  the 
children  to  spiritual 
things  may  be  owing 
to  our  so  seldom 
uniting  in  praying 
for  them  ?  Would  it 
not  be  possible  to 
stay  in  a  few  minutes 
after  school  for  that 
purpose? 


SUPERINTENDENT'S 
REPLY. 

I  win  do  so  next 
Sunday.  WiU  the 
teachers  tell  me  of 
any  child  who  per- 
sists in  eating  after 
having  been  told  to 
stop? 


I  have  had  a  quiet 
talk  with  M.  She 
professes  sorrow,  and 
promises  to  behave 
better.  Will  the 
teacher  separate  her 
as  much  as  possible 
from  A.  and  B.,  and 
if  she  ever  uses  bad 
language  again,  teU 
me  of  it  at  the  time  ? 

With  pleasure. 


Thank  you  for  the 
suggestion.  I  should 
much  like  it,  and  will 
bring  it  before  the 
teachers  at  our  next 
meeting. 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


81 


This  last  suggestion  was  acted 
upon,  and  every  Sunday  evening,  as 
soon  as  the  children  have  left  the 
school-room,  the  teachers  gather  to- 
gether and  unite  in  prayer  for  a 
blessing  on  their  labours. — A  Young 
Superintendent. 

260.  Always  Present. — Nothing 
but  such  untiring  energy,  such 
deep-seated  earnestness,  wlU  ensure 
success.  A  superintendent  ought 
never  to  he  absent.  Does  he  suffer 
from  ill  health  ?  Eather  let  him 
resign  his  office,  than  see  his  school 
wither.  No  family  engagements,  or 
a  visit  to  a  watering-place,  can 
justify  him  in  being  absent  six  or 
eight  consecutive  Sabbaths  every 
year.  One  Sabbath  occasionally,  is 
the  utmost  that  an  earnest  superin- 
tendent would  desire  to  take.  This 
may  seem  a  hard  saying ;  but  there 
are  men  who  have  ta'avelled  all 
Saturday  night  on  purpose  to  be 
present  at  the  opening  of  the  school, 
and  who,  for  years,  were  never  once 
absent  or  late ;  their  heart  being  in 
the  cause,  toil  was  no  toil  to  them. 
— Davids. 

261.  Classification  of  Scholars. — 
It  is  the  right  and  duty  of  a  super- 
intendent to  classify  the  scholars. 
Classification  is  a  necessity.  The 
nature  of  the  task  is  such  that  it 
cannot  be  accomplished  by  the 
teachers'  meeting,  but  must  be  the 
work  chiefly  of  a  single  mind.  The 
superintendent  is  the  proper  person 
to  do  it.  Where  the  external  accom- 
modations permit,  this  classification 
should  be  two-fold :  (1)  general ; 
(2)  particular.  (1.)  General,  that 
is,  into  four  departments :  (a J  The 
infant ;  (bj  the  primary,  for  scholars 
between  six  and  ten ;  (cj  the  middle, 
for  pupils  between  ten  and  fourteen ; 
CdJ  the  senior,  for  young  people. 
(2.)  Though  this  departmental  plan 
may  not  be  at  present  practicable, 
owing  to  lack  of  suitable  rooms,  yet 


particular  classification  is.  It  should 
be  based,  (1.)  Not  on  age  or  size 
alone,  but  on  age,  capacity,  and 
attainments.  A  class  should  be  as 
near  intellectual  equality  as  possible. 
To  place  a  dull  child  who  can 
scarcely  read  in  a  class  with  a 
bright,  highly  cultivated  boy,  is  like 
putting  a  Canadian  pony  into  har- 
ness with  a  high-mettled  racer.  No 
teacher  could  do  justice  to  a  class 
composed  of  such  unequal  minds. 
(2.)  It  should  also  be  based  on  moral 
character.  A  child  of  depraved 
habits  should  not  be  put  into  a  class 
with  children  of  good  character  and 
pure  habits.  One  sickly  sheep  will 
infect  a  flock  ;  and  a  superintendent 
who  compels  such  companionship 
does  the  better  children  a  wrong, 
and  violates  his  obligations  to  their 
parents,  who  have  a  right  to  expect 
that  he  will  guard  their  children 
from  the  dangers  of  such  associa- 
tions. What  shall  the  superinten- 
dent do  with  corrupt  scholars  ? 
Quietly,  and  without  apparent  de- 
sign, let  him  place  them  in  one  class 
under  the  care  of  the  strongest 
teacher  at  his  command.  By  this 
measure,  if  they  are  not  reformed, 
they  will  at  least  be  prevented  from 
communicating  their  vices  to  inno- 
cent children. —  Dr.  JVise. 

262.  Appointment  of  Teachers. — 
It  is  the  right  of  the  supierintendent 
to  appoint  teachers  to  their  classes. 

No  teachers'  meeting  can  do  this 
work  intelligently,  for,  from  the 
nature  of  the  ease,  it  requires  such  a 
knowledge  of  both  teachers  and 
scholars  as  only  an  individual,  situ- 
ated as  a  superintendent  is,  can  possess. 
The  right  should,  therefore,  be  con- 
fidently placed  in  his  hands,  and  he 
should  exercise  it  with  judgment. 
Much  of  his  success  will  depend  upon 
his  sagacity  in  this  part  of  his  work. 

There  is  one  exception  to  this  rule: 
the  discipline  gives  the  pastor  power 


82 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


to  appoint  teachers  to  Bible  classes. 
The  superintendent  should  not  only 
cheerfidly  permit  the  exercise  of  this 
power,  he  should  invite  it,  albeit  few 
pastors  "will  claim  it,  except  in  con- 
currence with  his  judgment. — Dr. 
Wise. 

263.  Nomination  of  new  teachers. 
— It  is  the  right  of  the  superintendent 
to  NOMINATE  new  teachers. 

While  the  election  of  new  teachers 
rightfully  belongs  to  the  Sunday- 
school  society,  it  is  proper  that  their 
nominatioi]L  should  come  from  the 
superintendent,  for  two  reasons : 

(rt)  He  IS  the  guardian  of  the 
purity  of  the  school,  and  should  have 
power  to  keep  improper  persons  out 
of  the  teacher's  office. 

(h)  His  success  largely  depending 
on  the  co-operation  of  teachers,  it  is 
proper  that  he  should  have  the  power 
of  preventing  the  admission  of  persons 
who  will  not  work  harmoniously  with 
him. — Dr.  Wise. 

264.  Supreme  Control. — It  be- 
longs to  the  superintendent  to  direct 
the  school.  It  is  pretty  well  ascer- 
tained that  seldom  more  than  six 
scholars  should  be  committed  to  one 
teacher ;  but  to  classify  these,  to  put 
the  right  children  together,  to  give 
the  right  scholar  to  the  right  teacher, 
belongs  exclusively  to  the  super- 
intendent. Here  his  wisdom  will 
all  be  needed,  else  he  will  be  liable 
to  place  the  stupid  and  the  quick 
in  contact ;  the  timid,  trembling 
learner,  under  the  bold,  oft-hand, 
decided  teacher ;  and  the  rough, 
headstrong  boy,  under  the  gentle, 
timid  teacher. — Todd. 

265.  Pirmness  in  Classifying. — 
The  superintendent  who  forms  to 
himself  a  distinct  plan  for  classify- 
ing his  scholars,  and  who  under- 
takes to  carry  it  out  by  removing 
pupils  who  are  out  of  place  to  the 
classes  to  which  of  right  they  ought 


to  belong,  and  who  exercises  the 
same  judgment  and  prerogative  in 
assigning  new  scholars  to  their  ap- 
propriate classes,  must  expect  to  give 
dissatisfaction  in  many  quarters.  He 
need  not  be  surprised  if  some  of  his 
scholars  leave  him.  Even  at  such 
a  cost,  it  is  better  to  go  forward. 
Should  the  school  be  permanently 
diminished  in  numbers,  in  conse- 
quence of  his  insisting  upon  a 
proper  classification,  the  evQ  would 
be  more  than  counterbalanced  by 
the  improved  condition  of  those  that 
remain.  More  good  can  be  accom- 
plished in  a  school  of  one  hundred 
pupils,  well  classified,  than  in  a 
school  of  one  hundred  and  fifty 
pupils  thrown  together  promiscu- 
ously. But  there  is  no  danger  of  a 
school  declining  in  numbers  in  con- 
sequence of  its  being  carefully  and 
judiciously  classified.  For  every 
pupil  or  teacher  that  leaves  in  pique 
on  this  account,  two  or  three  others 
will  be  added  on  account  of  the  im- 
proved condition  of  the  school  which 
wUl  result. — The  Hive. 


266. 


The   classijication  of 


scholars  is  another  duty  that  de- 
volves on  the  superintendent,  and 
must  be  unflinchingly  attended  to ; 
the  "like"  of  the  teacher  or  the 
taught  must  not  unduly  influence 
his  decisions.  Teachers  wUl  rarely 
take  offence  at  having  their  pupils 
removed  into  other  classes,  if  it  be 
done  with  impartiality  and  kindness  ; 
but  should  they  prove  unreasonable, 
he  must  suffer  patiently,  conscious 
that  he  is  acting  rightly.  IS^o  teacher 
is  certainly  worth  the  trouble  of  re- 
taining, who  has  formed  the  habit  of 
being  easily  oftended. — Davids. 

267.  No    function    of    the 

superintendent  requires  for  its  exer- 
cise more  sound  judgment,  good 
temper,  and  nerve,  than  this  duty  of 
classifying  his  scholars.  It  will  not 
do  to   adopt  an  iron  rule  in    the 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


83 


matter,  and  follow  out  a  theory, 
regardless  of  consequences.  The 
Sabbath-school  work  is  altogether  a 
voluntary  work,  and  a  spirit  of  con- 
ciliation must  be  exercised.  Large 
concessions  must  be  made  to  preju- 
'dice,  and  sometimes  even  to  whim 
and  caprice.  But  by  persistent  re- 
solution in  a  conciliatory  spiiit,  and 
by  knowing  exactly  when  it  is  expe- 
dient to  resist  and  when  to  give  way, 
the  superintendent  will  in  the  end 
carry  his  point,  and  will  have  his 
reward  in  seeing  the  school  achieve 
results  entirely  imattainable  on  any 
other  basis.  A  good  classification 
will  cost  some  tears,  perhaps  some 
heart-burnings,  and  it  undoubtedly 
requires  some  nerve ;  but  it  pays. — 
The  Hive. 

268.  Increase  of  the  school. — 
It  is  his  duty  to  increase  the  school. 
Every  year  he  should  make  some 
special  effort  to  add  to  its  numbers, 
otherwise  it  will  rapidly  diminish. 
He  should  open  the  school  with 
prayer,  select  the  hjTnns  for  singing,- 
and  address  the  school  at  least  every 
other  sabbath.  There  is  diversity 
of  opinion  here.  We  think  the  rule 
should  be  for  the  superintendent  to 
COD  duct  all  the  devotional  and  public 
exercises  himself.  He  should  ex- 
amine every  class  once  a  quarter,  or 
if  possible,  every  six  weeks.  He 
should  keep  an  account  of  the 
teachers'  attendance.  He  should 
make  arrangements  for  the  efficient 
oversight  of  the  scholars  during 
public  worship.  He  should  attend 
to  all  the  visitors,  and  meet  the 
teachers  for  mutual  improvement. 
These  are  only  a  few  of  the  minute 
details  that  fill  a  superintendent's 
time ;  to  specify  the  half  would  be 
impossible. — Davids. 


269. 


The  increase   of   the 


school  is  a  very  important  part  of 
the  duties  of  the  superintendent. 
Unless  great  pains  are  taken,  every 


school  will  diminish,  by  the  removal 
of  scholars,  by  deaths,  by  the  indif- 
ference of  parents,  by  the  age  of 
pupils,  and  by  other  causes.  The 
superintendent  will  find  his  little 
congregation  diminishing  from  year 
to  year,  unless  he  make  this  an 
object  of  special  attention.  There 
wQl  be  new  families  moving  into 
your  precincts,  new  children  growing 
into  the  age  to  attend,  but  who, 
through  negligence,  do  not  enter  the 
school,  and  there  will  always  be 
materials  to  fill  up  the  school,  at 
least  equal  to  what  are  withdrawn 
from  it.  The  object  of  the  teachers 
is  not  merely  to  keep  the  school  full, 
but  to  bring  every  child  in  the 
community  xmder  the  influence  of 
religious  instruction.  Let  the  super- 
intendent ad\dse,  encourage,  and 
co-operate  with  the  teachers,  and 
have  one,  and  in  cities  two,  special 
efforts  made  every  year,  to  fill  up 
the  school  with  new  scholars. — Todd, 


DISQUALIFICATIONS. 

270.  Men  not  Pit. —Without 
attempting  to  describe  any  ideal 
man,  we  may  mention  some  things 
that  tend  to  unfit  superintendents 
for  their  work.  (1.)  A  lack  heart 
in  the  work.  This  is  a  capital  de- 
fect. Do  not  choose  a  man  who  is 
willing  to  take  office,  or  who  has 
shown  hitherto  a  lack  of  earnest 
devotion  to  S.  S.  work.  No  amount 
of  qualifications  of  other  sorts  can 
atone  for  so  grievous  a  defect  as  this. 
(2.)  Personal  vanity.  There  are  too 
many  S.  S.  superintendents  who 
think  of  nothing  but  display,  perpe- 
tually spreading  the  peacock  feathers 
of  their  ingenuity,  their  order,  or 
their  singing,  or  some  other  special 
excellence,  before  the  school  and 
strangers.  There  are  no  people  in 
the  world  of  so  Little  practical  use  as 


84 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WOELD. 


those  whose  earnestness  is  withered 
by  vanity.  (3.)  An  over-bearing 
disposition.  A  tyrannical  superin- 
tendent, a  man  who  values  his  own 
way  because  it  is  his  own,  and  who 
has  little  or  no  regard  for  the  wishes 
of  others,  is  evil,  and  only  evil,  con- 
tinually. Will  is  a  great  advantage 
if  it  be  modified  by  a  truly  Christian 
spirit.  But  self-will  is  the  most 
unpleasant  and  obstructive  form  of 
selfishness,  directly  opposed  to 
Christ's  spirit,  and  ruinous  in  its 
efiects  upon  the  school.  (4.)  Lack 
of  progressiveness.  We  mean  to 
say  that  a  man  who  sticks  to  the  old 
because  it  is  old,  who  ivHl  use  his 
grandfather's  spectacles,  is  unfit  for 
the  office  of  superintendent.  No- 
where is  an  old  fogy  so  out  of  place 
as  among  young  people.  In  nothing 
has  there  been  more  advancement 
recently  than  in  S.  S.  labour.  If 
the  superintendent  be  a  tertiary 
fossil,  the  teachers  will  not  be  living 
beings.  These  are  by  no  means  all 
the  things  that  disqualiiy  men  from 
serving  as  superintendents.  But 
most  of  the  rest  may  be  overcome  by 
the  superintendent  himself.  If  you 
cannot  do  better  you  may  have  to 
take  a  man  with  some  of  the  dis- 
qualifications that  we  have  named. 
— Edward  Eggleston. 

271.  Oommon  defects. — He  must 
not  be  too  methodical,  systematic,  and 
exacting  in  his  requisitions,  but 
ready  to  adapt  himself  to  circum- 
stances, and  to  conform  to  the  con- 
ditions which  surround  him.  Order 
and  system  are  good  and  necessary, 
but  many  Sabbath- schools  have  been 
systematised  to  death.  He  must  not 
be  bound  up  too  closely  by  committees, 
teachers,  or  others,  but  must  have 
freedom  of  action  and  power  of  con- 
trol. A  school  without  a  head  is 
like  an  army  without  a  general.  A 
superintendent  is  not  simply  "the 
tool  of  the  teachers,"  but  the  teachers 


must  be  largely  under  his  direction. 
He  must  be  a  man  of  sufficient  readi- 
ness of  mind  and  conversational 
powers  to  speak  easily  and  readily. 
He  must  talk  more  or  less  at  every 
session  of  the  school,  in  order  to  keep 
it  moving  forward  properly,  not 
always  to  make  a  regular  address 
(though  he  may  frequently  do  that), 
but  incidentally,  and  in  the  course  of 
the  exercises,  to  the  children  indi- 
vidually and  collectively.  He  should 
not  absorb  an  undue  portion  of  the 
time  of  the  school,  nor  repeat  "  the 
same  old  story"  too  often,  but  study 
to  bring  out  new  thoughts,  and 
develop  new  ideas,  and  to  draw 
largely  from  the  teachers  and  scholars. 
He  must  be  willing  to  devote  much 
time  and  labour  to  the  work,  and  be 
earnest,  persevering,  even  enthusias- 
tic in  the  cause.  He  should  not  be 
a  scold,  and  never  should  find  fault 
with  the  teachers  in  the  presence  of 
the  scholars,  either  collective  or 
individual.— a  T.  Coffin. 

272.  The  Slovenly  Superinten- 
dent.— On  Saturday  night  he  omitted 
to  wind  his  watch.  The  house  clock 
is  olf  duty  by  reason  of  similar 
omission.  There  is  no  timepiece  in 
the  house  that  can  show  what  o'clock 
it  is.  So  he  is  a  little  behind  time 
in  coming  into  school.  With  toilet 
partially  made,  breakfast  not  quite 
eaten,  and  family  prayers  omitted 
for  want  of  time,  he  moves  along  to 
his  work,  one  moment  hurrying  be- 
cause he  is  late,  the  next  moment 
slackening  his  steps,  reflecting  that 
as  he  has  been  punctual  for  two  con- 
secutive Sundays,  it  is  no  matter  if 
he  is  late  to-day  ;  the  school  cannot 
begin  before  he  gets  there.  ''  I  for- 
got to  wind  my  watch  last  night," 
is  the  apologetic  remark  to  the  knot 
of  teachers  and  scholars  awaiting 
him  at  the  door.  He  says  he 
makes  the  best  of  it,  and  is  not 
going  to  be  worried  about  what  he 


STJNDAY    SCHOOL   -WORLD. 


85 


calls  the  minor  matters  of  life.  His 
religion  is  a  sort  of  slip-sliod  religion. 
In  all  Ms  affairs  he  is  down  at  the 
heels.  There  is  no  arrangement  in 
his  counting  room  or  his  family. 
His  children  rise  when  they  please, 
get  their  meals  "  when  it  is  con- 
venient," hoist  their  clothes  on  with- 
out much  regard  to  neatness  or 
regularity;  and  the  only  thing  in 
which  they  are  all  regular,  is  their 
late  attendance  on  the  means  of 
grace.  The  time  of  teaching  is  over. 
The  bell  is  rudely  jingled,  to  cause 
the  learning  to  stop.  But  there  are 
sundry  notices  to  be  given  out,  and 
they  serve  for  closing  exercises.  Mr. 
Slovenly  announces  that  there  will 
be  a  prayer-meeting  on  Wednesday, 
and  lecture  on  Friday,  and  monthly 
concert  on  Monday,  and  the  annual 
pic-nic  on  Thursday,  and  the  funeral 
of  Amanda  Jones  this  afternoon,  all 
to  commence  at  half- past  seven 
o'clock  until  fiu^ther  notice.  Of 
course  the  teachers  remember  all 
these.  No  matter,  he  has  given 
them  out,  and  that  is  aU  he  has  to 
do  with  it.  The  school  is  then,  not 
exactly  dismissed,  but  rather  dis- 
persed. Slovenly  goes  to  his  home, 
intending  to  make  a  resolution  to 
institute  a  general  reform.  But  his 
good  intentions  do  not  come  to  a 
head.  He  forgets  them.  He  blunders 
on  in  the  same  old  way,  and  the 
school  blunders  and  stumbles  along 
with  him;  and  they  will  continue 
to  blunder  and  stumble  and  forget 
together,  so  long  as  they  both  shall 
live. —  Taylor, 

273.  The  Oonsequential  Super- 
intendent.— He  is  an  elder  or  vestry- 
man of  the  church.  A  well-to-do 
merchant,  a  judge  of  the  supreme 
court,  or  a  bank  cashier.  He  has 
railroad  stock  in  his  safe,  and  money 
to  his  credit  in  the  bank.  Lives  in  a 
fine  house,  drives  excellent  horses, 
and  sits  in  the  front  pew,  middle 


aisle,  into  which  his  family  come 
regularly  five  minutes  after  the 
minister  has  commenced  service. 
For  these  reasons,  and  not  on  ac- 
count of  any  particular  fitness  for 
the  post,  this  gentleman  has  been 
elected  superintendent  of  the  Sun- 
day-school. Very  great  is  the 
honour  which  he  has  conferred  on 
the  church  and  Sunday-school  by 
his  acceptance.  In  the  "  brief  re- 
marks "  which  he  made  on  the  occa- 
sion, he  told  them  that  they  must 
not  look  to  liim  for  any  great  amount 
of  labour  in  the  duties  connected 
with  the  administration  of  the 
school.  The  school  should  have  his 
influence  and  his  sympathy.  His 
manner,  while  on  duty,  is  the 
manner  of  a  brigadier- general.  He 
is  not  only  the  superintending 
overseer  of  the  flock  committed  to 
his  charge,  but  he  is  driver  and 
commander.  The  debt  of  gratitude 
due  to  him  for  extricating  the  school 
from  its  pecuniary  difficulties,  stands 
as  a  great  iceberg  in  the  way  of  re- 
moving him.  It  will  not  do  to  hurt 
his  feelings.  He  will  leave  the 
church.  The  chiuxh  will  lose  his 
influence,  his  sympathy,  and  his 
pew-rent.  That  would  ruin  the 
church.  The  only  feasible  sugges- 
tion made  for  getting  rid  of  him, 
is  to  wait  till  he  dies.  And  that 
seems  a  slow  way.  But  the  school, 
in  terror  of  the  great  man,  toils  on 
under  his  unhappy  tyranny,  year 
after  year,  growing  weaker  and 
more  disordered,  like  the  dyspeptic 
who  persists  in  living  on  indigestible 
food ;  until  at  last,  when  the  change 
is  made  by  death  or  voluntary  re- 
tirement, what  is  left  of  the  un- 
fortunate school  is  so  enfeebled  and 
rickety,  that  the  work  of  rebuilding 
has  to  be  done  almost  from  the 
foundation. — Taylor, 

274.  The  Heavy  Superintendent. 
-   He  is  a  good  man,  but  very  duU. 


86 


StrXDAT   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


A  ID  an  of  considerable  ability  in 
some  things.  Not  necessarily  an 
old  man,  thougli  sometimes  cbrono- 
logically  exempt  from  active  service. 
He  means  well.  He  wants  to  do 
as  well  as  be  knows  bow,  for  tbe 
welfare  of  the  scbool.  He  bas  tbe 
respect  and  affection  of  tbe  minister 
and  good  people  of  tbe  cburcb.  He 
is  a  respectable  man,  and  a  respect- 
able superintendent.  But  be  puts 
tbe  cbildren  to  sleep.  Tbe  Sunday- 
scbool  slumbers  under  bis  ponderous 
administration.  Tbe  scbool  is  a 
small  one.  Tbe  scholars  are  tbose 
who  bave  been  born  in  it,  or  bave 
naturally  wandered  into  it.  Most  of 
tbem  go  from  force  of  babit.  Tbey 
bave  been  told  it  is  rigbt  to  go  to 
Sunday- scbool.  Tbey  do  not  go  be- 
cause tbey  are  interested.  Tbere  is 
nothing  to  excite  especial  interest  in 
the  childish  mind.  They  are  tolerably 
well  behaved,  orderly,  stagnant  chil- 
dren. There  is  no  missionary  effort, 
no  lively  energy  in  the  school.  Some 
exuberant  young  converts  once  tried 
it,  but  the  heavy  bead  went  to  the 
pastor,  and  asked  him  if  he  thought 
they  had  better,  and  he  thought 
they  had  better  not,  and  so  they 
sank  into  submissive  inactivity. 
The  time  of  usefulness  of  this  re- 
spectable old  seventy-four  ship-of- 
the-line  has  run  out.  A  less  clumsy 
craft,  even  though  of  less  depth  and 
lighter  equipment,  would  be  more 
available  for  the  work  of  the  present 
day.  Let  our  fossil  superintendent 
either  go  out  of  service,  as  a  well- 
used  and  time-worn  monument  of 
the  past,  or  else  let  him  get  himself 
razeed,  pitch  overboard  bis  weighty 
old  smooth-bores,  and  rig  himself 
with  all  the  modern  rifled  improve- 
ments and  iron-clad  sides.  Then, 
in  tbe  Master's  strength,  he  will  be 
able  not  only  to  sail  in  the  shallow 
waters  where  the  enemy  of  souls  is 
to  be  met,  but  to  send  into  his  sides 
such  telling  shots  as  will  cause  tbe 


school  to  give  the  thanks  to  God  for 
tbe  new  efficiency  with  which  they 
commence  in  earnest  to  ' '  fight  the 
good  fight  of  faith." — Taylor, 

275.  The  Pidgety  Superinten- 
dent.— This  person  is  constitution- 
ally uneasy.  He  is  in  a  stew  at  home, 
at  his  place  of  business,  and  wherever 
else  he  goes.  He  never  was  thought- 
fully calm  for  five  minutes  at  a  time. 
He  unwittingly  puts  into  a  stew 
tbose  with  whom  he  associates  or 
bas  business.  It  would  be  well  if, 
in  putting  on  his  Sunday  clothes,  be 
could  clothe  bimseK  with  a  garb  of 
quiet  dignity,  but  be  cannot.  So 
he  brings  bis  every-day  manners 
and  customs  with  him,  as  be  comes 
to  the  discharge  of  his  official  duties 
in  tbe  Sunday-school.  His  entrance 
into  the  schoolroom  introduces  a 
general  odour  of  disquietude  and 
restlessness.  He  seems  to  have  been 
shaved  with  a  dull  razor,  or  bitten 
by  venomous  insects — probably  both. 
As  be  constantly  boils  over  on  tbe 
subject  of  punctuality,  be  is  careful 
not  to  be  after  the  time  for  the 
opening  of  school.  But  he  hurriedly 
bolts  into  tbe  schoolroom  just  as 
the  clock  is  on  the  strike,  and  as 
hurriedly  arranges  his  affairs,  so 
that  the  opening  of  the  school  may 
at  once  proceed.  His  opening  ex- 
ercises are  as  when  a  can  of  fer- 
mented preserves  is  opened.  Great 
ebullition;  little  orderly  propriety. 
His  ways  are  capricious.  Sometimes 
a  hymn,  a  chapter,  a  prayer ;  some- 
times a  hymn,  a  prayer,  a  chapter ; 
sometimes  no  chapter,  sometimes  no 
prayer  ;  generally  without  the  care 
in  selection  and  arrangement  which 
is  desirable  ;  always  lacking  in  that 
spirit  of  earnest  devotion  which 
should  mark  every  religious  exercise. 
Tbe  school  is  opened,  or  rather  torn 
open,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  jar  the 
religious  feelings  of  all  right-minded 
teachers.     Tbe  exercises  of   study 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WOELD. 


87 


are  due,  but  tlie  impetuous  official 
has  a  notice  to  give,  or  a  new  regu- 
lation to  announce.  He  rings  the 
hell  with  violence,  and  failiug  to 
gain  the  attention  he  desires,  thumps 
on  the  desk  with  a  stick  till  enough 
noise  is  made  to  cause  everybody  to 
look  and  listen.  The  notice  or  regu- 
lation is  an  unimportant  one,  which 
might  have  been  otherwise  disposed 
of. — Taylor. 

276.  Beware  of  Hobbies.— The 
superintendent,  one  of  the  best,  an- 
nounced in  closiiig  the  school,  that 
he  had  purposely  given  a  little  more 
time  than  usual  to  the  lesson,  because 
of  the  apparent  interest  manifested 
in  it,  and  commented  with  special  ap- 
probation on  the  interest  manifested 
in  the  Bible-class.  Said  an  insane 
woman  once  to  a  clergyman,  * '  Reve- 
rend sir,  can  you  tell  me  the  dif- 
ference between  a  real  horse  and  a 
hobby  ?"  "I  cannot,  madam." 
''  Why,  sir,  when  you  mount  a  real 
horse,  you  get  up  or  down  at  pleasure, 
but  once  on  a  hobby  you  can  never 
get  off .'"  MoEAL  —  Bible  -  class 
teachers  should  beware  of  people  who 
ride  hobbies.  And  superintendents 
should  inquire  in  regard  to  the 
source  of  interest  in  the  class  before 
commending  it.  —  S.  S.  Teacher, 
American. 


SEOEETAET. 

277.  Qualifications. — The  secre- 
tary should  be  a  business  man,  able 
to  write  a  clear  legible  hand,  correct 
in  detail  and  patient  in  investigation ; 
he  should  be  in  regular  attendance 
during  the  whole  time  of  teaching, 
and  take  minutes  of  the  proceedings 
every  Lord's-day;  he  should  co- 
operate with  the  superintendent, 
affording  him  every  assistance  in  his 
power,  in  the  strictest  sense  being 
one  with  him,  willing  to  carry  out 


his  plans,  and  submit  to  his  control. 
The  records  of  a  Sunday-school  are 
generally  much  neglected.  Nothing 
can  be  a  surer  mark  of  an  ill-regulated 
school,  than  for  children  to  be  absent 
for  months,  and  their  names  still  to 
be  retained  on  the  books ;  and, 
probably,  one  cause  of  this  prevalent 
want  of  accuracy  arises  from  many 
schools  not  having  secretaries  whose 
place  and  duty  it  is  to  keep  the  books 
in  order. — Davids. 

278.  General  duties. — Ordinarily, 
the  duties  of  the  secretary  consist 
in  recording  the  opening  exercises, 
noting  the  attendance  of  the  teachers, 
or  calling  and  marking  the  roll, 
placing  in  the  receiving  book  the 
names,  residence  and  parents'  resi- 
dence of  new  scholars  in  the  Bible, 
the  intermediate,  and  the  infant 
classes,  and  to  make,  respectively, 
entries  of  the  same ;  to  enter  in  the 
minute-book  the  names  of  visitors, 
the  kind  of  weather,  and  the  ad- 
dresses, if  any,  made  by  the  pastor, 
superintendent,  or  visitors. 

Of  every  teacher  and  scholar  he 
ought,  as  far  as  possible,  to  keep  a 
personal  record  as  to  residence,  time 
of  connection  with  the  school,  &c. ; 
and  to  every  scholar  or  teacher  re- 
moving, he  should  be  empowered  to 
give,  in  the  name  of  the  school,  a 
certificate  of  dismissal,  commending 
each  to  the  good-will  and  cordial 
fellowship  of  other  Sabbath- school 
labourers.  In  the  providential  hin- 
drance or  absence  of  the  superinten- 
dent the  secretary  should  either  him- 
self conduct  the  exercises  of  the 
school,  or  call  one  who  is  competent 
for  the  exigency. — Souse. 

279.  Official  Duties.— 1.  To  keep 
the  records  of  the  society  and  of  the 
school.  2.  To  caU  the  roll  of  teachers 
as  directed  by  the  superintendent. 
3.  To  report  absences  of  teachers 
and  officers  at  the  meetings  of  the 
society.     4.  To  furnish  the  pastor 


88 


ST7NBAT  SCHOOL  WOELD. 


quarterly  with  the  statistics  of  the 
school. — Dr.  Wise, 

280.  Detail  of  Duty.— The  ap- 
pointment of  the  school  secretary  is 
to  be  made  in  the  same  manner  as 
that  of  the  superintendent.  He 
should  he  present  a  sufficient  time 
before  the  commencement  of  the 
school  to  complete  all  the  necessary 
arrangements,  so  that  the  engage- 
ments may  always  commence  exactly 
at  the  time  appoirited.  He  is  to 
have  charge  of  all  the  school  books ; 
to  enter  the  names,  residences,  and 
other  particulars  connected  with  the 
children,  on  their  admission  ;  to 
keep  the  School  Record  duly  written 
up  every  Sunday,  and  to  copy  the 
attendance  of  teachers  and  scholars 
from  the  Class  Registers  into  the 
Roll  Book,  weekly  or  otherwise,  as 
may  be  determined.  A  iveekly  entry 
from  the  Class  Registers  is  much  to 
be  preferred.  He  is  regularly  to 
examine  the  Class  Registers,  and 
write  out  a  list  of  such  scholars  as 
were  absent  on  the  preceding  Sunday, 
and  not  accounted  for ;  giving  a  list 
of  the  names  to  their  respective 
teachers  for  visitation.  At  the  end 
of  every  quarter  he  is  to  carry  for- 
ward in  the  Roll  Book  the  names  of 
those  teachers  and  scholars  who  con- 
tinue in  the  school ;  transferring  the 
names  of  such  as  have  been  removed 
to  other  classes.  He  is,  at  the  same 
period,  to  copy  out  the  names  of  the 
teachers  and  scholars  into  each  of 
the  Class  Registers,  and  make  the 
corrections  rendered  necessary  by  any 
changes  of  residence.  He  should 
prepare  reports  of  the  numbers  of 
teachers  and  scholars,  and  render 
such  assistance  to  the  superintendent 
as  may  be  required.  He  should 
make  arrangements  with  the  teachers, 
so  that  all  the  school  books  and  re- 
quisites may  be  put  into  their  proper 
places,  in  an  orderly  manner ;  and 
also  see  that  the  schoolroom  is  left 


in  a  state  of  safety.  He  should 
obtain  from  the  committee  the  need- 
ful orders  to  secure  a  timely  pro- 
vision of  school  books  and  other 
requisites ;  and  keep  each  class  pro- 
perly supplied  with  such  as  may  be 
needed.  If  other  arrangements  be 
not  made,  he  should  procure  and 
supply  those  suitable  periodicals  or 
books  which  teachers  or  scholars 
may  desire  to  purchase. — Sunday- 
school  Hand-book. 

281.  Incidental  Qualifications 
and  Duties. —  This  indispensable 
officer  of  the  school  is  a  sort  of 
clerk  or  helper  to  the  superinten- 
dent. 1.  He  should  be  a  good  ac- 
countant, prompt,  watchful,  and  at- 
tentive. He  should  keep  a  record 
of  the  attendance.  2.  He  should 
make  a  note  of  the  opening  exer- 
cises, with  the  names  of  those  who 
participate,  and  any  interesting 
circumstancer  connected  with  them. 
3.  He  should  record  the  names  of 
all  the  scholars  and  teachers  who 
have  been  or  are  now  connected 
with  the  school,  and  note  everything 
of  their  changes  in  life  and  history ; 
especially  their  profession  of  religion, 
marriage,  &c. — keeping  up  a  corre- 
spondence with  them.  This  record- 
book  will  become  very  valuable  a 
the  years  roll  on,  since  it  includes 
parents'  names,  every  removal  and 
death,  &c.,  &c.  4.  He  will  also 
count  the  number  of  scholars  and 
teachers  present,  enter  it  in  the 
minute-book,  and  note  the  absentees. 
5.  He  should  write  up  the  class- 
books,  and  deliver  them  to  the 
teachers.  6.  He  should  enter  in 
the  minute-book  the  names  of 
visitors,  especially  if  the  pastor  be 
one  of  them ;  note  the  addresses, 
the  kind  of  weather,  and  all  items 
affecting  the  school.  7.  He  should 
give  certificates  of  dismissal  to  every 
teacher  or  scholar  about  to  remove 
to    another    place,    recommending 


SXnSTDAT   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


89 


them  to  the  Christian  fellowship  of  ■ 
those  who  love  Christ's  lambs.     8.  ! 
He  should  know  every  scholar,   so  [ 
that  he  can  check  them  off  without  1 
asking   the  teacher  the  name,  and  j 
should  have  a  quick,  vigilant  eye,  | 
not  only  for  his  own  duties,  but  also 
in  order   to   communicate   valuable 
suggestions    respecting    the    school 
to   the  superintendent.      9.    In  the 
absence   of  the   superintendent,    he 
may  sometimes  take  his  place  in  the 
charge  of  the  school,  except   in  the 
case   of  very   large   schools,    which 
may    require    an    assistant    to  the 
superintendent. — Pardee. 

282.  A  hint  to  Secretaries. — 
The  Old  Scholars'  Book. — Compara- 
tively few  schools  have  any  register 
answering  to  the  above ;  but  its 
utility  need  hardly  be  pointed  out. 
It  simply  consists  of  a  blank  book ; 
at  the  top  of  the  page  is  entered  the 
name  of  any  scholar  who  has  been  in 
attendance  upwards  of  a  twelvemonth. 
Underneath  the  name  is  mentioned 
his  present  condition  and  character, 
to  which  additions  are  to  be  made, 
from  time  to  time,  of  whatever  infor- 
mation the  superintendent  is  able  to 
obtain  of  his  conduct  in  after  life. 
Thus  an  interesting  history  of  all  the 
young  people,  who  have  fairly  passed 
through  the  school,  is  attained ;  and 
such  a  record  would  possess  a  touch- 
ing, sacred  value  in.  the  eyes  of  aU. — 
Davids. 


ADDENDA. 

283.  Things  Agreed  Upon.— 1. 
A  Sunday-school  can  neither  be  esta- 
blished nor  sustained  without  effort. 

2.  The  great  object  of  Sunday- 
schools  is  to  present  truth  to  the 
mind,  and  bring  it  to  bear  npon  the 
conscience. 

3.  Sunday-school  teachiag  is  to 


children  what  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel  is  to  adults. 

4.  The  mind  is  much  more  suscep- 
tible of  good  impressions  in  child- 
hood than  at  a  later  period. 

5.  Sunday-schools  offer  their  be- 
nefits alike  to  the  children  of  the 
rich  and  of  the  poor. 

6.  Millions  of  money  would  have 
been  required  to  hu'e  the  labour  that 
has  been  freely  given  by  teachers  in 
Sunday-schools. 

7.  No  species  of  efforts  for  doing 
good  has  been  more  uniformly  suc- 
cessful than  those  put  forth  in  the 
Sunday-school  cause. 

8.  It  may  be  safely  stated  that 
many  thousands  have  been  added  to 
the  Christian  Church  thi'ough  the 
means  of  Sunday-schools. 

9.  Many  extensive  revivals  of  re- 
ligion have  commenced  in  Sunday- 
schools. 

10.  Sunday-schools  promote  the 
observance  of  the  Sabbath,  the  read- 
ing of  the  Bible,  and  all  the  public 
and  private  virtues  enjoined  by 
Christianity. 

11.  The  Sunday-school  system 
admits  of  universal  application. 
The  universal  text-book  of  Sunday- 
schools  is  the  Bible. 

12.  Wherever  it  is  practicable,  a 
good  room  should  be  provided  for 
the  Sunday-school.  "Where  that  is 
not  practicable,  almost  any  kind  of 
a  place  may  be  made  to  answer. 

13.  Not  only  churches,  but  com- 
mon school-houses,  private  dwell- 
ings, barns,  prisons,  and  even  the 
open  air,  have  been  used  with  good 
effect  as  places  for  Sunday-school 
instruction. 

14.  A  Sunday-school  should  be 
organised  wherever  ten  children  can 
be  found. 

15.  In  all  Sunday-schools  of  one 
hundred  scholars,  or  more,  there 
ought  to  be  an  infant  class,  and  also 
one  or  two  Bible  classes. 

16.  In  every  school,  great  or  small, 


90 


Sins'DAT   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


there  ouglit  to  be  a  teaclier's  Bible 
class,  in  which  the  lessons  of  the 
school  should  be  regularly  studied. 

17.  The  time  for  instruction  in  a 
Sunday-school  is  very  short;  not  a 
moment  of  it  should  be  wasted. 

18.  A  Sunday-school  ought  to 
resemble  a  well-regulated  family, 
dwelling  in  the  house  of  the  Lord. 

19.  No  session  of  the  Sunday- 
school  is  of  more  importance  than 
that  on  which  the  monthly  prayer- 
meeting  is  held. 

20.  Prayer  offered  in  a  Sunday- 
school  should  be  simple  and  child- 
like. It  should  also,  in  every  case, 
be  short. 

21.  Classes  in  Sunday-schools 
ought  not,  ordinarily,  to  embrace 
more  than  eight  or  ten  children 
each. 

22.  As  far  as  possible,  children  of 
nearly  equal  age  and  attainments 
should  be  classed  together. 

23.  It  is  most  injudicious  to  dis- 
continue Sunday-schools  during  win- 
ter, the  very  period  most  favourable 
for  other  schools. 

24.  It  is  better  to  prevent  than 
punish  bad 'conduct  in  scholars. 

25.  In  Sunday-school  exhibitions 
and  anniversaries,  let  all  concerned 
avoid,  as  ruinous  evils,  whatever 
will  promote  the  vanity  or  the  morti- 
fication of  individual  scholars ;  and 
also,  whatever  has  the  most  remote 
affinity  to  theatrical  acting  and  dis- 
play. 

26.  No  school  ought  to  be  without 
some  regular  course  of  study. 

27.  Every  child  who  goes  to  a 
Sunday-school  for  any  length  of 
time,  ought  to  carry  away  with  him 
at  least  the  elements  of  all  those 
truths  essential  to  salvation. 

28.  The  superintendent  should 
always  appoint  lessons  for  the  school. 

29.  Lessons  should  be  short,  so 
that  all  may  learn  them  and  keep 
along  together. 

30.  A  short  lesson  weU-leamed,  is 


better  than  a  long  lesson  imperfectly 
understood. 

31.  Those  scholars  who  are  able  to 
progress  faster  should  receive  extra 
lessons  from  their  teachers. 

32.  Singing  in  Sunday-schools 
should  be  cultivated  by  all,  not  only 
as  an  entertainment  and  an  act  of 
devotion,  but  also  as  an  important 
means  of  grace. 

284.  Subjects  for  Teachers' 
Meetings. — 1.  Pictorial  teaching  and 
Bible  illustration. 

2.  A  superintendent's  qualifica- 
tions. 

3.  The  Sabbath-school  teacher's 
library. 

4.  Training  and  preparation 
classes. 

5.  The  art  of  questioning. 

6.  Why  are  there  so  few  conver- 
sions in  Sabbath  schools  ? 

7.  On  imparting  a  comprehensive 
acquaintance  with  the  Bible. 

8.  Music  classes  for  the  young. 

9.  Addresses  to  children;  rules 
and  hints. 

10.  Good  order  in  a  class ;  how 
best  secured  and  maintained. 

11.  Should  the  imconverted  be 
teachers  ? 

12.  Organisation  of  Sabbath- 
schools. 

13.  The  conversion  of  children. 

14.  Sabbath- school  revivals. 

15.  Model  teachers — Christ,  Pau], 
John,  Peter. 

16.  Know  your  scholars. 

17.  Successful  teaching. 

18.  Meetings  with  young  people 
during  a  period  of  revival. 

19.  The  habits  which  should  be 
formed  in  the  Sabbath-school. 

20.  Parental  Sabbath  lessons. 

21.  System,  and  economy  of  time. 

22.  Recollections  of  youth  as  a 
means  of  usefulness. 

23.  The  development  of  mind  in 
children. 

24.  On  the  advantages   and  best 


STINDAT   SCHOOL  WORLD. 


91 


ways   of  getting  senior   scholars  to 
write  exercises. 

25.  How  to  catechize,  explain,  and 
apply. 

26.  Visitation  of  scholars. 

27.  How  to  deal  with  different 
dispositions.  j 

28.  The  best  means  of  cultiyat-  ' 
ing  a  missionary  spirit  among  the  i 
young. 

29.  Sabhath-school  libraries  ;  their 
selection,  arrangement,  and  distribu- 
tion. 

30.  How  to  treat  sick  and  dying 
children. 

31.  The  importance  of  parents 
co-operating  with  Sabbath-school 
teachers. 

32.  Sabbath-school  discipline. 

33.  The  kind  and  patient  teacher. 

34.  The  planning  teacher. 

35.  The  working  teacher. 

36.  The  anecdotic  teacher. 

37.  The  theological  teacher. 

38.  The  quiet  teacher 

39.  Dead  teachers. 

40.  The  Spirit  of  God,  our  great 


by      the      Sabbath-school 


the  teacher's  great 
methods  of  reading 
and    devotional 


want. 

41.  Seek  the  lost. 

42.  Separate  services  for  children. 

43.  How  much  of  the  ordinary 
pulpit  services  should  be  for  the 
young  ? 

44.  Rewards  and  punishments. 

45.  Collateral  aids  to  a  teacher. 

46.  The  advantages  of  local  unions. 

47.  Enlarged  liberal  views  of 
young  life  ;  its  tastes  and  pur- 
suits. 

48.  The  Sabbath-school ;  its  place 
in  the  Church. 

49.  Refractory  scholars;  how  to 
deal  with  them. 

50.  The  errors  and  faults  into 
which  Sabbath-school  teachers  are 
apt  to  fall. 

51.  The  religious  power  of  the 
Sabbath- school. 

52.  How  best  to  teach  the  ethical 
parts  of  Scripture. 

53.  The    mental    qualities    most 


needed 
teacher. 

54.  "Jesus," 
theme. 

55.  The  best 
Scripture. 

56.  Punctuality 
exercises. 

57.  How  much  of  Sabbath-school 
work  should  be  an  exercise  of  me- 
mory ? 

58.  Juvenile  gatherings,  soirees , 
missionary  meetings,  &c. 

285.  Settled  Points. — There  was 
a  conference  of  Sunday-school  super- 
intendents, teachers,  and  officers  of 
Edinburgh,  October  21,  1867,  the 
following  poiats  being  discussed  and 
agreed  on : — 

1.  There  should  be  rotation  ia  the 
devotional  exercises.  Superinten- 
dents and  teachers  should  take  their 
turns. 

2.  Mutual  understanding  between 
superintendents  and  teachers.  While 
the  superintendent  is  free  to  speak  to 
his  teachers,  the  teachers  ought  to  be 
as  free  in  speaking  to  him.  A  teacher 
once  told  a  superintendent  that  his 
prayers  were  uniformly  too  long,  and 
asked  him  to  time  himself  next  time. 
The  suggestion  was  given  pleasantly 
and  taken  pleasantly.  A  reform  fol- 
lowed. Cordial  fellowship  between 
superintendent  and  teachers  is  a 
guarantee  of  regular  attendance  on 
the  part  of  the  latter. 

3.  Preparation  for  devotion.  Every 
superintendent  ought  to  select  and 
study  his  h^Tnns  and  prayers  before 
coming  to  the  school,  doing  nothing 
at  random. 

4.  Visits  to  other  schools.  As  it 
is  good  for  teachers  from  time  to  time 
to  visit  each  other's  schools  and  classes 
and  see  how  the  teaching  is  done,  so 
ought  superintendents  to  see  each 
other's  schools,  and  by  such  ex- 
change of  visits  not  only  gain  useful 


92 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


hints,  but  be  sent  back  to  tbeir  own 
spheres  'with,  a  fresh  impulse. 

5.  Adequate  supply  of  teachers. 
Calls  from  the  pulpit  may  be  well 
enough,  but  the  superintendent 
should,  by  personal  inquiry,  know 
as  to  the  fitness  of  every  new  teacher 
employed. 

6.  Dismissal.  Number  the  classes, 
and  let  them  leave  in  rotation. 

7.  Addresses.  As  far  as  possible, 
let  them  be  cognate  to  the  lesson 
studied. 

286.  Superintendent's  Eegister. 
— The  Superintendent  should  have  a 
register  containing  the  names  and  ad- 
dresses of  all  the  officers  and  teachers ; 
and  that  he  should  regularly  every 
Sunday  morning  and  afternoon  re- 
cord his  own  and  their  attendance. 
Total  Attendance. — The  Superinten- 
dent's Register  should  also  contain 
the  number  of  scholars  confided  to 
each  teacher,  and  the  total  atten- 
dance in  each  class  morning  and  after- 
noon, and  also  the  average  attendance 
for  the  quarter.  Summary  of  Re- 
ports.— At  the  end  of  this  register, 
or  in  a  separate  book,  the  superin- 
tendent should  have  a  Summary  of 
the  (Quarterly  Reports  made  by  the 
officers  and  teachers.  It  will  form  a 
complete  and  concise  report  of  the 
state  of  the  whole  school;  and  by 
comparing  the  corresponding  quar- 
ters of  each  year,  encouragement  may 
be  derived,  or  motives  for  increased 
exertion  called  forth. 

In  some  large  schools  it  may  be 
convenient  for  the  secretary  to  pre- 
pare this  Quarterly  Summary  for  the 
superintendent,  and  to  take  the  at- 
tendance each  Sunday ;  but  wherever 
such  arrangements  are  adopted,  it  is 
essential  that  the  superintendent 
should  be  thoroughly  acquainted,  not 
only  with  the  kind  of  teaching,  but 
also  with  the  state  of  each  class,  as 
regards  the  attendance  of  the  teacher 
and  the  numbers  and  attendance  of 


the  scholars. — Sunday-school  Hand- 
book. 

287.  A  "Wise  Motto. — Few  men 
are  more  tempted  to  talk  overmuch 
than  the  Sunday-school  superinten- 
dent. Reading  one  of  Montaigne's 
essays  the  other  day,  I  fell  in  with 
this  motto  from  Seneca,  which  the 
learned  Frenchman  quotes  and  trans- 
lates :  Non  est  loquendutn,  sed  guber- 
nandum — "  The  thing  is  not  to  talk, 
but  to  govern."  Thinking  that  more 
than  one  school  might  be  benefitted 
by  the  adoption  of  this  motto  on  the 
part  of  the  chief  men  thereof,  I  have 
written  these  words,  and  ask  you  to 
put  the  motto  itself  in  very  plain  and 
clear  type,  that  all  concerned  may 
read  it. — Sunday-school  Journal. 

288.  A  Certain  Theory  on  Simul- 
taneons  Teaching. — In  this  theory 
the  minister  as  the  head  teacher,  the 
fountain  of  instruction  so  to  speak, 
selects  the  subject  of  the  Sabbath 
lesson,  which  is  either  some  book  of 
Scripture,  or  some  history,  or  some 
biography,  or  some  doctrine.  It 
extends  over  several  Sabbaths,  few 
or  many  as  the  case  may  be.  And 
it  is,  first  of  all,  the  subject  of  his 
own  pulpit  instruction  on  Sabbath 
mornings;  he  preaches  a  course  of 
sermons  or  expositions  on  it  to  his 
congregation.  And  the  points  dwelt 
upon  by  him  on  the  Sabbath  morn- 
ing are  reproduced  by  each  teacher 
in  his  class  in  the  afternoon,  and 
adapted  according  to  the  intelligence 
and  capacity  of  the  class.  Each 
class,  above  a  certain  line,  is  ex- 
pected to  be  present  at  the  morning 
service,  and  to  pay  such  attention  to 
the  sermon  or  exposition  as  to  be 
able  to  enter  into  a  conversation  on  * 
it  in  the  afternoon,  and  to  undergo  a 
process  of  catechising  on  its  leading 
ideas. 

And  what  is  thus  the  theme  of 
pulpit  ministration,   and  of   school 


STIN^DAT   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


93 


lesson,  is  tlie  topic  also  of  home 
conversation  and  home  catechising. 
Heads  of  households  co-operate  with 
the  minister  and  with  the  Sabbath- 
school  teacher,  by  reproducing  and 
enforcing  anew  in  the  family  circle 
the  one  common  lesson  for  the  day. 

There  is,  moreover,  a  co-operation 
among  young  people  in  their  com- 
panionships. They  discuss,  and  speak 
to  each  other,  about  -what  they  hear 
in  the  sanctuary,  in  the  school,  and 
in  the  home. 

The  advantages  of  the  practical 
adoption  of  this  theory  of  "  Simul- 
taneous Teaching "  are  numerous 
and  important ;  and  the  present 
writer  has  proved  them,  though  not 
yet  to  the  extent  that  he  hopes. 
The  following  are  some  of  these 
advantages :  — 

I.  It  binds  minister,  and  school, 
and  congregation,  all  in  one.  A 
common  course  of  instruction,  through 
all  the  departments  of  a  minister's 
sphere  of  responsibility  and  labour, 
helps  greatly  to  produce  a  common 
sentiment  and  a  common  sympathy. 

II.  It  gives  a  minister  many  an 
opportunity  of  usefulness  he  would 
otherwise  not  possess.  He  has  always 
a  profitable  theme  to  speak  on  in  his 
pastoral  visitations,  and  a  means  of 
gauging  the  progress  of  his  people  in 
scriptural  knowledge.  It  is  an  ap- 
proximate revival  of  the  once  pre- 
valent and  useful  custom  of  congre- 
gational catechising — a  custom  com- 
mon in  Puritan  times,  and  not  yet 
abandoned  in  many  parts  of  Scot- 
land. 

III.  It  brings  the  minister  into 
frequent  contact  with  the  Sabbath- 
school.  An  essential  part  of  this 
theory  is  that  the  minister  shall  hold 
perioclical  examinations  of  the  school, 
when  some  division  of  the  common 
subject  of  instruction  is  reviewed. 
These  examinations  are  looked  for- 
ward to,  and  specially  prepared  for ; 
and  take  place  before  parents  and 


friends,  who  are  present  not  merely 
as  spectators,  but  by  reason  of  a  com- 
mon interest  m  the  subject  of  exami- 
nation. There  is,  therefore,  ever  a 
healthy  stimulus  in  the  school.  Every 
teacher  strives  that  his  class  may 
make  as  creditable  an  appear- 
ance as  possible.  And  parents  are 
animated  by  a  similar  spirit;  and, 
through  their  occupying  a  position 
under  the  same  system  of  instruc- 
tion, are  able  to  render  important 
assistance  to  their  children.  Reli- 
gious conversation  between  parents 
and  children  in  the  home,  is  not  the 
least  useful  and  interesting  feature  of 
this  theory  of  "  Simultaneous  Teach- 
ing.^^ 

lY.  It  induces  a  habit  of  regular 
attendance,  both  at  the  house  of  God 
and  at  the  Sabbath-school.  No  one 
is  willingly  absent,  because  to  be 
absent  is  to  suffer  loss  and  get  into 
confusion.  Besides,  there  is  a  special 
interest  both  in  the  preaching  and 
teaching,  a  special  interest  which 
takes  hold  of  the  mind  and  turns 
the  feet  into  the  way  of  God's  testi- 
monies. 

Y.  It  calls  into  constant  exercise 
and  activity  the  faculties  of  the  in- 
tellect, and  makes  old  and  young, 
teachers  and  taught,  inquiring  and 
intelligent.  Under  ordinary  cu-cum- 
stances  the  minister  and  the  teacher 
do  most  of  the  thinking  as  a  rule  ; 
but  under  the  operation  of  this  theoiy 
the  thinking  is  general,  all  minds 
are  awake  and  must  be. — The  Hive. 

289.  The  Uniform  Lesson. — 
When  the  Bible  class,  the  interme- 
diate classes,  and  the  infant  class  all 
have  the  same  lesson,  the  school  is 
said  to  be  studying  a  uniform  lesson. 
Sometimes,  when  only  the  interme- 
diate classes,  or  those  sitting  in  the 
same  room,  are  engaged  in  the  exer- 
cise, the  school  is  also  pronounced 
studying  a  uniform  lesson.  Two 
things  are   absolutely  necessary   to 


94 


SFNDAT   SCHOOL   "WOELD. 


such  a  lesson:  first,  study,  regular, 
careful,  and  thorough,  on  the  part 
of  the  superintendent  and  all  the 
teachers ;  second,  an  examination 
and  review  of  all  the  school  by  the 
pastor,  superintendent,  or  some  one 
of  the  more  experienced  teachers. 
This  review,  if  attended  to  weekly, 
need  not  occupy  over  five  or  ten 
minutes,  or,  if  monthly,  half  an 
hour.  Some  superintendents  have 
the  weekly  ten-minute  reviews,  to- 
gether with  a  monthly  and  quarterly 
review.  Whoever  conducts  such 
examinations  must  not  only  under- 
stand the  lesson,  but  must  have  tact 
enough  to  engage  every  child  ia  the 
school  in  answering.  Some  super- 
intendents look  for  bright  replies, 
and  hence  only  the  bright  scholars 
are  heard.  The  true  philosophy  con- 
sists in  bringing  out  the  backward, 
as  well  as  other  scholars. — House. 

290.  There  are  three  things 

essential  to  the  success  of  the  uni- 
form lesson: — 

1 .  Study,regular,patient,thorough, 
and  extensive,  on  the  part  of  the 
superintendent,  the  teachers,  and 
scholars. 

2.  Regular  review,  either  weekly 
or  monthly,  of  the  lessons  studied — 
more  advantageously  weekly. 

3 3  A  proper  question  or  lesson- 
book,  in  the  hands  of  both  teachers 
and  scholars,  to  be  used  in  preparing 
the  lesson,  but  never  in  the  class. 

A  fourth  thing  might  be  stated: 
in  the  inauguration  of  the  system, 
and  for  one,  two,  or  three  years 
thereafter,  it  may  be  best  to  adhere 
to  the  Gospels,  and  to  the  historical 
and  narrative  portions  of  the  Scrip- 
tures.— House. 


291. 


We   know  of  two  or 


three  large  Sabbath-schools,  where 
the  uniform  lesson  is  studied,  and 
where,  in  addition,  the  minister 
selects  as  his  text  for  the  morning 
discourse  the  theme  studied  ia  the 


Sunday-school.  The  prayer-meeting 
in  the  evening,  also  has  the  same 
direction.  The  plan,  as  far  as  tried, 
has  worked  well.  The  unity  of 
labour  has  secured  unity  of  impres- 
sion.— House. 


292. 


"We  have  tried  the 


uniform  lessen  twice  in  our  school," 
said  a  Boston  superintendent  once  to 
us,  "and  each  time  have  failed." 
"  How  long  did  you  try  ?"  "  About 
a  month  each  time."  "  Did  you  use 
a  schedule  of  the  lessons,  or  a  ques- 
tion-book ?"  "  Once  we  had  a 
schedule  of  subjects  ;  at  another 
time  we  had  question-books —three 
difierent  kinds,  I  believe."  Such 
an  inauguration  of  the  system  could 
result  in  scarcely  anything  except 
failure. — House. 

293.  Prizes  and  Eewards  in  Sab- 
bath-school.— American  Opinions. 
To  the  question  of  how  far  rewards 
should  be  used  in  the  management 
of  a  Sunday-school  which  was  asked 
by  the  National  Baptist,  answers 
have  been  made  by  prominent  Sab- 
bath-school men,  that  show  a  disin- 
clination to  encourage  them.  A  few 
answers  here  given  will  show  the 
drift  of  opinion:  To  the  extent  of 
encouraging  real  effort.  '  Grood  be- 
haviour '  is  generally  too  much  of  a 
negative  quality  to  merit  positive 
rewards." — Robert  Lowry.  "Far 
enough  to  promote  honourable  rivalry 
in  which  pupils  may  compete." — 
George  A.  Pelts.  "  JS'ot  as  pay  for 
good  deeds  done,  or  to  be  done.  Not 
with  such  frequency  as  to  make  a 
child  expect  and  demand  them. 
Especially  not  as  a  reward  for  wor- 
rying cash  contributions  out  of  their 
friends." — Alfred  Taylor.  "Avoid! 
it  as  far  as  possible.  Let  the  reward 
be  found  in  the  power  and  beauty  of 
the  truth,  the  system  and  spirit  of 
the  scnool,  the  personal  influence  of 
the  teacher  and  superintendent." — 
J,  H»  Vincent.     "  We  cannot  ignore 


STJNDAT  SCHOOL   WOELD. 


95 


the  principle,  luiless  "we  would  be 
wiser  tliaii  the  world.  Great  wisdom 
is  needed  ia  their  distribution.  I 
prefer,  as  far  as  I  can,  to  have  every 
reward  come  from  the  teacher.  At- 
tach the  scholar  to  the  teachei^ 
rather  than  to  the  school." — 'Ralph 
Wells.  "Sunday-school  rewards 
should  be  rather  presents  thanpr^;:es. 
Do  not  allow  a  scholar  to  think  him- 
self rewarded  for  doing  what  was 
not  properly  his  duty, — that  he  was 
hired  to  perform  extra  services,  or 
paid  for  debts  of  supererogation." — 
H.  Clay  Trumhull. 


294. 


With  respect  to  reward 


I  advise  that,  as  much  as  possible, 
you  make  a  child's  own  feelings  his 
reward.  External  stimulants,  I  am 
aware,  are  sometimes  necessary.  In- 
dolence must  often  be  roused  by  the 
proposal  of  a  prize,  the  value  of  which 
ignorance  can  comprehend,  and  in- 
sensibility be  excited  to  desire.  Any- 
thing is  an  advantage  which  moves 
the  stagnant  dulness  of  a  mind  after 
the  failure  of  every  other  plan.  But, 
as  a  system,  I  recommend  you,  as 
much  as  possible,  to  make  your  chil- 
dren a  reward  to  themselves.  By  a 
little  pains  you  may  make  them  sen- 
sible of  the  pleasures  of  good  be- 
haviour, and  the  advantage  of  know- 
ledge. When  they  have  succeeded 
in  a  lesson,  or  an  effort  at  good  con- 
duct, send  them  to  their  own  bosom 
for  a  rewarding  smile,  and  endeavour 
to  make  them  sensible  of  the  value  of 
that  reward.  By  this  means  you 
elevate  the  tribunal  and  strengthen 
the  authority  of  conscience.  This 
powerful  principle  is  often  totally 
neglected  in  the  business  of  instruc- 
tion. Its  dictates  are  scarcely  ever 
enforced,  its  authority  seldom  ex- 
hibited, and  its  solemn  awards  en- 
tirely superseded  by  a  bribing,  hire- 
ling system  of  mercenary  rewards. 
In  the  education  of  the  heart,  con- 
Bcience  is  the  great  auxiliary,  whose 


aid  should  be  perpetually  engaged. 
When  a  child  has  behaved  so  as  to 
deserve  commendation,  instead  of 
being  judiciously  instructed  by  his 
teacher  in  the  pleasure  of  doing  right, 
I  acknowledge  it  is  a  much  more  easy 
method  of  reward  to  confer  a  ticket, 
which  at  some  future  day  is  to  be 
transmuted  into  money;  but  it  is 
more  than  questionable  whether  it  is 
the  most  effectual  method. — J.  A. 
James. 


295. 


We   would   carefuUy 


avoid  entailing  upon  any  Sunday- 
school  a  system  of  premiums  and 
rewards,  for  several  reasons.  1.  It 
is  needlessly  expensive ;  2.  It  is 
almost  impossible  to  find  a  corps  of 
teachers  who  are  such  good  accoun- 
tants as  to  be  enabled  to  administer 
the  system  impartially;  and  thus 
jealousies  and  dissatisfactions  arise 
both  on  the  part  of  teacher  and 
pupils ;  3.  Some  of  the  very  kindest 
teachers  are  often  induced  to  reward 
those  not  strictly  entitled  to  them, 
and,  as  a  consequence,  loose  and  dis- 
honest habits  of  business  are  taught 
the  scholars ;  4.  After  the  novelty  is 
worn  off,  the  children  learn  to  de- 
pend upon  and  claim  their  reward 
as  a  matter  of  right  which  they  are 
justly  entitled  to,  having  earned  it 
— thus  an  improper  habit  and  motive 
of  action  is  entailed.  The  pupils  are 
debtors  to  the  teachers,  not  the 
teachers  to  the  pupils.  We  would 
not  discourage  the  occasional  judi- 
cious awarding  of  premiums  to  de- 
serving scholars  by  the  school,  the 
teacher,  or  by  benevolent  individuals; 
only  let  them  be  given  for  a  specific 
extra  service — such  as  gathering  new 
scholars,  extraordinary  punctuality, 
recitations,  or  sober  attention  for  a 
long  period  of  time  :  and  let  them  be 
awarded  so  seldom  as  to  be  valued 
and  influential. — Pardee. 


296. 


One  of  the  largest  and 


most  successful    Sunday-schools  in 


96 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


the  country  has  the  following  ticket 
system:  The  scholars  in  attendance 
each  Sunday  receive  a  ticket,  printed 
on  a  red  card ;  for  the  perfect  recita- 
tion of  the  Sabbath   lesson,  which 
consists  of  six  verses,  a  green  ticket; 
for    every    six  verses    of    Scripture 
recited  in   addition  to  the    Sabbath 
lessons,  and  only  after  the  Sabbath 
lesson    has    been    recited,    a    white 
ticket;   for  every  new   scholar    in- 
troduced, a  red  ticket  of  larger  size 
than  the  first  named.     For  any  six 
of  the  tickets  thus  described,  a  him 
ticket,  for  sake   of  convenience,    is 
given  in  exchange  when  called  for, 
bearing  on  its  face,  across  the  centre, 
"  exchange  ticket.^''     On  the  second 
Sabbath 'of   January,    April,    July, 
and  October,    the   tickets    are    re- 
deemed    thus:     twenty     exchange 
tickets  for  a  Bible ;  ten  for  a  Testa- 
ment ;  or  if  these  are  not  desired,  a 
book  of  equal  value  is  given.     The 
system,  says  the   superintendent   of 
the  school,  has  secured  regularity  in 
attendance,  systematic  study  of  the 
Scriptures,  and  the  introduction  and 
retention  of  a  large  number  of  new 
scholar    — House. 


297. 


This  is,  more  or  less, 


the  ticket  system;  it  is  very  pre 
valent.  Is  it  a  good  system  ?  Is  it 
productive  of  good  effects  ?  Does  it 
tell  well  on  the  moral  habits  of  our 
scholars?  We  think  not.  Oui*  lot 
has  been  cast  in  schools  where  its 
practice  prevailed.  We  have  tried 
the  system  in  all  its  modifications, 
and  we  have  laboured  honestly  and 
perseveringly  to   extract  from  our 


experiments  one  drop  of  honey  ;  but 
have  always  failed.  Its  principle  is 
wrong.  What  is  it  but  paying^  a 
child  for  coming  to  school  and  being 
good. — Davids. 

298.  Punishments. — If  the  child 
is  stubborn,  and  refuses  to  come  to 
you,  be  very  firm,  and  by  no  means 
let  her  govern  you.     Carry  her  in 
your  arms  from  her  seat  rather  than 
not  have  her  obey ;  but  never  shame 
a  child.     When  the  class  is  dismissed 
detain   the  little   offender,    and,   in 
privacy,    take  her  upon   your  lap, 
talk  to  her  with  the  greatest  kind- 
ness   about    her    sin    and    naughty 
ways,  and  show  her,  by  manifested 
love,  how  very  grieved  you  are  that 
she  forgot  that  she  came  to  Sunday- 
school  to  learn  about  Jesus,  and  not 
to  play ;   but  impress  her,  also,  fully 
and   thoroughly,  that   she  lyiust  be 
obedient  whenever  you  speak  ;  then, 
with    an    affectionate    "good-bye," 
tell  her  you  think  she  will  never  do 
so    again.     We    do   not   remember, 
after  having  had  an  experience  with 
children  of  every  rank  of  society,  of 
I  every   temperament    and    grade    of 
understanding,  of  a  single  instance 
when  this  had  to  be  repeated  a  second 
time.     If  the  offence  is  very  grave, 
a  visit  to  the  child  at  its  home,  dur- 
ing the  week,  and  personal  labour 
there,  will  rarely  fail  to  accomplish 
that  which  will  not  be  forgotten  dur- 
ing a  lifetime.     A  single  interview 
has     sometimes     transformed    very 
stubborn  little  ones  into  the  best- 
behaved   scholars  in  the    school. — 
Mrs.  3Iary  C,  Johnson, 


III.    THE    TEACHER. 


HIS  EELATIOITS. 

299.  To  His  Work.— The  true 
Sabbath- school  teacher  is  one  called 
and  "sent  of  God,"  for  we  read 
(1  Cor.  xii.  28),  "And  God  hath  set 
some  in  the  Church,  fii'st  apostles, 
secondarily  prophets,  thirdly  teach- 
ers ;^^  and  the  same  Divine  lips  wliich 
said  "Go  preach,"  said  also  "Go 
teach."  Whosoever  receives  this , 
sacred  call  should  devote  himself  to] 
it  by  a  holy  consecration,  remember-  i 
ing  that  he  is  truly  an  ambassador 
from  the  King  of  kings  to  a  small 
circle  of  His  rebellious  subjects, — a 
ransomed  sinner  offering  pardon  to 
precious  youth  condemned  to  die. 
His  great  business  is  the  preparation 
of  young  immortals  for  the  kingdom 
of  heaven,  through  the  application  of 
heaven-revealed  truth  by  a  simple 
appeal  to  their  intelligence  and  feel- 
ings through  the  power  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  This  is  truly  an  angel's  er- 
rand entrusted  to  redeemed  sinners. 
— Pardee. 

300.  To  the  Minister.— The  last 
hint  which  i  wish  to  give  in  this 
chapter  is,  that  the  teacher  should 
try  to  make  it  a  part  of  his  means  of 
usefulness  to  increase  the  usefulness 
and  influence  of  his  Pastor. 

It  is  easy  for  the  teachers  to  ruin 
the  influence  of  the  Pastor  upon  the 
Sabbath-school ;  and  I  am  sorry  to 
say  that  I  know  of  a  few  instances 
in  which  they  have  effectually  done 


this.  The  Pastor  is  shut  out,  as  if 
the  school  were  altogether  in  other 
hands,  and  as  if  there  were  danger 
of  his  usurping  power,  w^re  it  possi- 
ble. By  a  refined,  but  sure  process, 
he  is  cut  off  from  all  sympathy  with 
the  school.  When  he  goes  in  he  i& 
treated  like  a  stranger,  and  the  con- 
sequence is,  he  does  not  often  go 
there.  Just  the  reverse  of  this 
should  be  the  course  pursued.  This 
school  is  his  flock,  and  the  teachers- 
are  his  helpers  in  instructing  and 
feeding  that  flock.  You  should, 
therefore,  be  very  careful  not  to 
destroy  or  weaken  the  sympathj^ 
between  your  Pastor  and  the  school. 
It  need  not  be  done,  and  it  never  ivill 
be  done,  unless  by  design.  You 
must  remember  that  he  is  preaching 
for  your  mind,  and  the  mind  of  the 
most  intelligent  and  gifted  in  the 
congregation.  Instead,  therefore,  of 
finding  fault,  and  complaining  that 
he  does  not  adapt  every  sermon  to 
the  capacity  of  children,  you  must 
take  the  thoughts  of  that  discourse, 
and  in  simple  language  give  them  to 
your  class.  Instead  of  standing  off, 
and  feeling  that  you  occupy  one  field 
and  your  minister  another,  encourage 
him  to  visit  the  school  as  often  as  he 
possibly  can,  to  examine  your  classes, 
and  to  talli  to  and  with  the  children. 
Make  him  acquainted  with  the  par- 
ticular traits  of  character  which  you 
discover  in  different  individuals,  that 
he  may  know  how  to  drop  a  word 
now  and  then,  which  will  be  "as  a 


98 


SUXDAT    SCHOOL    ^VOivLi>. 


nail  in  a  sure  place."  Strive  to  make 
the  children  love  and  respect  the 
office  of  the  minister,  not  for  the 
sake  of  the  poor  "  dust  and  ashes 
that  now  fills  it,"  but  for  the  sake  of 
ha-sTng  the  admonitions,  the  instruc- 
tions, and  the  prayers,  of  the  minister 
fall  with  more  weight.  In  another 
place  I  shall  speak  of  his  duties ;  but 
I  cannot  forbear  to  urge  upon  the 
teachers  the  necessity  of  making  your 
minister  happy  in  your  circle,  happy 
in  your  school,  happy  in  yoiu?  con- 
fidence and  love.  It  will  all  be 
returned  to  you;  for  while  there  is  no 
man  who  more  needs  your  res2)ect 
and  love  than  your  minister,  there  is 
no  heart  which  will  more  quickly  ap- 
preciate these,  nor  more  quickly  and 
warmly  reciprocate  them.  He  re- 
lies upon  his  teachers  more  than  on 
any  others,  perhaps  all  others,  for 
aid,  sjTnpathy,  and  love ;  let  him 
never  be  chilled,  by  finding  he  is 
leaning  upon  a  reed  which  will  pierce 
his  very  heart  ■\Adth  sorrows.— Jb^tZ. 


necessary  work  about  the  tabernacle, 
but  they  are  not  Aaron  and  Moses, 
and  they  do  not  require  solemn, 
priestly  ordination. — Dr.  Hart. 


I    cannot    speak     or 
agency  as  ever  rival- 


302.  . 

thinli  of  this 

ling,  or  really  separable  from,  the 
appointed  ministry.  The  teachers 
of  my  school  seem  to  me  to  be  but 
parts  of  myself.  Like  the  fingers  of 
one  of  those  beautiful  power-presses, 
they  take  up  the  very  pages  which  I 
desire  to  impress,  and  smoothly  and 
quietly  spread  them  out  before  me, 
prepared  to  receive  the  blessed  com- 
munications from  on  high  which  I 
long  to  stamp  on  their  minds  and 
hearts  for  ever. — Dr.  Tyng. 

303.    The    Sabbath-school 


301. 


The 


analogy  between 
the  Sabbath-school  teacher  and  the 
minister  is  pushed  too  far.  They 
are,  indeed,  alike  in  very  many 
things.  So  are  all  Christians. 
Every  Christian  man  is  bound  to 
promote  Christ's  kingdom,  and,  so 
far  as  he  is  a  Christian  at  all,  he  is 
labouring  to  bring  about  this  great 
end,  the  universal  reign  of  Christ. 
There  is  no  greater  obligation  on  the 
minister  to  seek  the  glory  of  Christ 
and  the  conversion  of  men  than  there 
is  on  every  member  of  his  flock. 
The  difference  of  their  obligations 
are  of  kind,  not  of  degree.  The 
work  of  the  Sabbath- school  teacher 
is,  indeed,  in  many  things  nearer  in 
kind  to  that  of  the  minister  than  is 
the  work  of  other  Christians.  Yet 
it  is  very  far  from  being  the  same. 
Sabbath- school  teachers  are  rather 
the  Levites  of  our  latter  dispensation. 
They  do  a  great  deal  of  useful  and 


teacher  is  the  Levite  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament Church.  Levites  were  not 
invested  with  the  priesthood,  but 
they  were  employed  in  aiding  the 
work  of  the  priests,  especially  in 
teaching  the  people  throughout  the 
country.  They  had  many  other 
offices  to  fulfil ;  but  we  read  that  in 
the  days  of  Jehoshaphat  they  taught 
in  Jndah,  and  had  the  book  of  the 
law  of  the  Lord  with  them,  and  went 
about  throughout  all  the  cities  of 
Judah  and  taught  the  people.  Sab- 
bath-school teachers  are  not  set  apart 
to  this  work  of  instructing  the  young 
on  week  days  ;  but  on  the  Lord's  day 
they  are  occupied,  in  their  respective 
spheres,  solely  in  extending  the 
knowledge  of  God  among  the  young. 
They  are  now  a  very  important 
branch  of  the  active  servants  of 
Christ,  and  cannot  be  dispensed  yA\h ; 
nay,  they  ought  to  be  largely  in- 
creased. "The  harvest  truly  is 
plenteous,  but  the  labourers  are 
few."— Dr.  Steel. 


304. 


The 


teacher,"   says 
occupies  a  po- 


an  earnest  writer, 

sition  midway  'between  the  fireside 

and  the  pulpit.     The  teachers   are 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


99 


tlie  pastor's  assistants  in  tlie  work  of 
Grod.  They  aim  at  tlie  same  object 
as  himself.  They  are  pastors  in 
miniature  ;  they  are  feeding  their 
future  flocks  in  embryo;  they  are 
moulding  the  generation  to  come. 
They  are  the  pastor's  right  arm. 
Without  them,  and  their  labours, 
how  stupendous  however  his  abili- 
ties, and  whatever  his  industry,  he 
must  always  come  immeasurably 
short  of  the  results  otherwise  attain- 
able."— Dr.  Camphell. 

305.  To  the  Scholar.— Your  true 
position  with  respect  to  your  scholars 
is  that  of  a  friend.  It  is  not  that  of 
a  teacher  in  a  week-day  school, 
where  you  engage  for  so  much  money 
to  impart  so  much  instruction,  but  it 
is  that  of  a  friend  with  friends,  as 
that  of  a  brother  or  sister  seeking  the 
benefit  of  other  brothers  and  sisters 
for  whom  Christ  died.  Seek,  then, 
to  show  yourseK  friendly  with  your 
children.  Learn  to  speak  to  them 
pleasantly,  asking  after  their  wel- 
fare, where  they  live,  whether  they 
are  at  school  during  the  week,  if 
they  have  other  brothers  or  sisters, 
whether  their  people  at  home  are 
well,  etc.  Let  them  see  that  you 
really  love  them,  and  are  willing  to 
do  them  any  good  that  lies  in  your 
power.  It  may,  perhaps,  be  a  small 
thing  in  itself  to  ask  after  the  wel- 
fare of  a  little  boy  or  girl,  but  it  will 
not  be  a  small  thing  if  you  can  per- 
suade that  boy  or  girl  that  you  really 
are  his  friend.  It  would  greatly 
ease  your  labours,  and,  humanly 
speaking,  bless  your  words  to  him, 
if  you  once  could  make  him  like  you 
and  trust  you.  Kindness  is  never 
thrown  away.  We  mean,  of  course, 
real  kindness — heart  kindness  ;  not 
that  sort  of  thing  which  throws  a 
penny  to  a  beggar  to  get  him  out  of 
your  way,  but  sincere,  honest,  hearty 
love — that,  we  say,  is  never  wasted. 
It  enters  into  the  real   aorencies  at 


work  in  the  world  for  good,  and  will 
live  and  work  among  men  and  women 
long  after  the  bestower  of  it  is 
mouldering  in  the  grave. — House. 

306.  The  Teacher's  Covenant. — 
Impressed  with  the  serious  nature  of 
the  charge,  will  the  faithful  Sabbath- 
school  teacher  enter  into  a  ivritten 
engagement  with  his  Saviour  in 
words  somewhat  like  the  following  ? — 

1.  I  promise  to  be  in  my  place 
punctually  every  Sabbath  at  the  time 
appointed,  unless  prevented  by  sick- 
ness, or  some  other  cause  so  urgent 
that  it  would  in  like  manner  keep 
me  from  important  worldly  business. 

2.  I  promise,  in  every  such  case 
of  necessary  absence,  that  I  will 
use  my  utmost  diligence  to  secure  a 
suitable  substitute,  whom  I  will  in- 
struct in  the  character  of  the  class 
and  the  nature  of  the  duties  to  be 
performed. 

3.  I  promise  to  study  carefully 
beforehand  the  lesson  to  be  recited 
by  the  scholars,  and  to  have  the  sub- 
ject in  my  mind  during  the  week,  so 
that  I  shall  be  likely  to  lay  hold  of, 
and  lay  up  for  use,  anything  that  I 
may  meet  with  in  my  reading  or 
experience  that  will  illustrate  or 
enforce  the  lesson  of  the  approaching 
Sabbath. 

4.  I  pro7nise  to  be  diligent  in  in- 
forming myself  about  the  books  in 
the  library,  so  that  I  can  guide  my 
scholars  in  selecting  such  books  as 
as  will  interest  and  profit  them ;  ah.o 
in  becoming  acquainted  with  other 
good  books  and  tracts,  so  that  I  can 
>always  be  prepared,  as  opportunities 
may  occur,  to  lead  their  minds  into 
right  channels  of  thought. 

5.  I  promise,  whenever  a  scholar 
is  absent  from  the  class  on  the  Sab- 
bath, that  I  will  visit  that  scholar 
before  the  next  Sabbath,  unless  pre- 
vented by  sickness,  or  by  some  other 
hindrance  so  grave  that  it  would, 
under  like  cii'cumstances,  keep  me 


P  2 


100 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


from  attending  to  important  worldly- 
interests. 

6.  /  promise  to  visit  statedly  all 
my  scholars,  that  I  may  become 
acquainted  with  their  families,  their 
occupations,  and  modes  of  living 
and  thinking,  their  temptations, 
their  difficulties,  and  the  various 
means  of  reaching  their  hearts  and 
consciences. 

7.  /  promise,  if  any  of  my 
scholars  or  their  parents  do  not  at- 
tend statedly  any  place  of  worship, 
that  I  will  make  the  case  known  to 
the  superintendent  and  pastor,  and 
that  I  will  use  continued  eflbrts  to 
induce  such  children  and  their  parents 
to  go  to  church  regularly. 

-8.  I  promise  that  every  day,  in  my 
hour  of  secret  prayer,  I  will  pray 
distinctly,  by  name,  for  each  one  of 
my  scholars,  for  their  conversion, 
if  they  are  still  out  of  Christ;  for 
their  sanctification  and  growth  in 
grace,  if  they  are  already  converted. 

9.  /  promise  that  I  will  seek  an 
early  opportunity  of  praying  with 
each  scholar  privately,  either  at  his 
house  or  mine,  or  in  some  other  con- 
venient place  that  may  be  found, 
and  of  asking  him  in  a  serious  and 
affectionate  manner  to  become  a 
Christian. 

10.  I  promise,  when  I  have  thus 
praj^ed  and  con  versed  with  each  scholar 
once,  that  I  will  begin  and  go  through 
the  class  again,  not  omitting  any,  and 
not  discontinuing  my  attempts,  but 
going  on  faithfully,  week  by  week, 
month  by  month,  and  year  by  year. 

Signed, 


Pardee. 

307.  Things  to  be  remembered. 
— Teachers.  1.  All  the  rules  that  can 
be  written  for  Sunday-school  teachers 
will  not  snpply  the  place  of  heart  in 
the  work.  2.  Delight  in  the  work 
of  Sunday-school  teaching  leads  to 
faithfulness,  and  faithfulness  to  suc- 


cess. 3.  Time  should  be  taken  to 
prepare  for  every  lesson  before  the 
Sabbath  comes.  4.  The  bee  gathers 
honey  from  every  flower ;  the  Sun- 
day-school teacher  should  gather 
instruction  for  his  class  from  every 
book  and  newspaper  he  reads,  and 
from  every  circumstance  in  life  he 
witnesses.  5.  It  is  impossible  to  be 
such  teachers  as  we  ought  to  be  with- 
out thinking  much  about  the  great 
and  ultimate  object  of  Sunday- 
school  instruction — the  glory  of  God 
in  the  salvation  of  souls.  6.  In 
order  to  accomplish  this  we  should 
endeavour  —  First,  To  form  right 
habits  in  every  scholar ;  second.  To 
fix  great  principles  in  the  mind; 
third.  To  commend  religion  to  the 
judgment  and  affections.  7.  If  you 
wish  to  become  a  good  teacher,  study 
the  character  and  imitate  the  con- 
duct, of  Jesus  Christ,  the  great 
Teacher.  8.  Try  to  get  a  clear  idea 
of  every  subject  yourself,  otherwise, 
you  can  never  impart  one.  9.  In 
order  to  teach  children  successfully, 
we  should  remember  that  we  once 
were  children.  "VYe  should  often  call 
up  to  our  minds  the  feelings  and 
impressions  of  childhood.  10.  You 
cannot  be  too  circumspect  in  all  your 
personal  habits.  Moroseness  and  un- 
due familiarity  are  equally  to  be 
avoided.  11.  In  vain  does  a  superin- 
tendent try  to  make  children  love 
their  teacher,  unless  the  teacher  merits 
their  affection.  12.  Sunday-school 
teaching  is  a  work  in  which  a  small 
amount  of  talents  and  qualifications 
may  be  rendered  useful,  but  for 
which  no  talents  or  qualifications 
can  be  too  great.  13.  The  funda- 
mental doctrines  of  the  Scriptures 
should  be  frequently  and  faithfully 
exhibited  in  the  Sunday  school. 
14.  A  fervent  and  unslumbering 
desire  to  win  souls  to  CHrist  should 
characterise  all  your  conduct  and 
efforts  in  the  Sunday  school.  15. 
Teachers    should  make    themselves 


StrXDAY   SCHOOL  WORLD. 


101 


familiar  with  the  books  in  the  lihrary, 
SO  as  to  be  able  to  point  out  a  proper 
course  of  reading  for  their  scholars. 
16.  The  teacher  may  often  do  great 
good  to  parents  by  visiting  their 
children  at  home.  Nothing  will 
please  parents  so  much  as  to  know 
that  you  are  really  anxious  for  the 
welfare  of  their  children.  17.  It  is 
well  to  question  each  scholar  upon 
the  book  he  has  read  during  the  week. 
18.  Never  ridicule  the  opinions  of 
your  scholars.  19.  Be  always  glad 
to  explain  whenever  a  question  is 
asked  you.  20.  If  you  cannot 
answer  a  question,  be  frank  to  con- 
fess the  fact ;  but  be  sure  to  get  the 
requisite  information  before  you  meet 
your  class  again.  21.  You  ought  to 
consider  Sunday-school  teaching  one 
of  the  most  important  objects  for 
which  you  live.  22.  Be  alarmed  at 
yourself  when  you  have  any  desire 
to  be  excused  from  it.  23.  Punc- 
tuality, on  the  part  of  teachers, 
is  of  vast  importance.  24.  Mild- 
ness of  temper  and  kindness  of  man- 
ner should  be  especially  cijltivated 
by  Sunday-school  teachers.  25. 
Private  interviews  and  correspond- 
ence between  teachers  and  scho- 
lars often  result  in  the  best  of  con- 
sequences. 26.  Every  teacher  should 
feel  his  proportionate  responsibility 
toward  keeping  order  in  the  school. 
27.  Partiality  toward  any  of  the 
scholars  is  an  evil.  We  may  admire 
the  conduct  of  some  much  more  than 
that  of  others,  but  we  should  love  the 
souls  of  all  alike.  28.  Every  teacher 
should  converse  with  each  of  his 
scholars  personally,  about  the  welfare 
of  his  soul.  29.  The  teacher  who  is 
himself  interested  in  a  lesson,  never 
fails  to  interest  his  scholars.  30. 
Question  books  are  of  most  value 
as  helps  to  study.  31.  The  teacher 
should  see  that  every  part  of  the 
lesson  is  well  understood  by  the 
scholars.  32.  It  is  difficult  to  give 
rules  for  teaching;  much  will  always 


depend  on  the  good  sense  and  piety 
of  the  teacher.  33.  The  life  of  a 
teacher  is  the  life  of  his  teaching. 
34.  The  sins  of  teachers  are  the 
teachers  of  sins.  35.  The  teacher 
who  neglects  prayer  seems  to  expect 
that  he  can  do  God's  work — convert 
a  soul,  36.  The  teacher  who  teaches 
carelessly,  seems  to  expect  God  to  do 
his  work — teach  the  truth.  37. 
The  teacher  who  seeks  not  to  win 
souls,  is  like  a  pearl  diver  who  keeps 
the  shells,  but  throws  away  the  pearls. 
38.  A  good  man  may  not  be  a  good 
teacher,  but  a  bad  man  cannot.  39. 
An  ignorant  teacher  is  like  a  blind 
torch-bearer  with  an  unlighted  torch ; 
he  holds  it  up,  but  it  gives  no  light, 
and  he  does  not  know  it.  40.  A 
Sabbath-school  teacher  may  be  doing 
the  devil's  work  in  the  school — ruin- 
ing souls.  41.  You  may  tell  your 
scholars  the  way  to  heaven;  but  if 
you  yourself  take  the  way  to  hell, 
they  will  follow  the  example  rather 
than  the  precept.  42.  The  highest 
joy  of  a  faithful  teacher  will  be  to 
say  before  the  Judge  of  all,  ' '  Behold 
me,  and  the  childi-en  Thou  hast  given 
me."  43.  The  devil  has  a  large 
Sabbath  school,  and  teaches  most 
efficiently  those  whom  you  neglect. 
44.  If  you  are  proud  of  what  you 
have  done,  that  is  your  reward ;  you 
will  have  none  from  Christ.  45.  It 
is  strange  that  some  should  think 
that  feeding  others  is  the  same  thing 
as  feeding  themselves.  46.  It  is  a 
pity  you  should  serve  in  the  ranks  of 
Christ's  army,  and  receive  only  the 
wages  of  sin. 

308.  Eules  Eespecting  Duties. — 
Every  teacher  is  required  :  —  1 .  To 
be  at  the  head  of  his  or  her  class 
every  Sunday  at  the  opening  of  the 
school,  and  to  remain  there,  without 
any  intermission,  until  the  school  is 
dismissed.  2.  To  permit  no  inter- 
ruption of  the  teaching  :  (iSTo  person 
but  the  superintendent  is  authorized 


102 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WORLD. 


to  speak  to  the  teachers  or  scholars 
during  the  teaching,  except  in  case 
of  Tinavoidable  necessity.  All  neces- 
sary business  must  be  done  before 
the  opening,  or  after  the  closing  ex  - 
ercises.)  3.  To  keep  the  scholars  in 
their  places  diu-ing  the  school  hours  : 
(No  moving  about  by  the  scholars  is 
allowed.  All  libraries  must  be 
changed  before  the  opening  hymn  is 
sung.  The  scholars  are  not  allowed 
to  read  libraries,  or  any  subjects 
other  than  the  lesson,  during  the 
teaching  hour.)  4.  To  keep  the 
class-books  correctly ;  to  bring  them 
to  the  school  every  Sunday ;  to  note 
in  them  all  scholars  joining  or  leav- 
ing the  school,  and  to  return  the  books 
to  the  secretary  as  often  as  requii'ed. 
5.  To  visit  the  absent  scholars  eveey 
-WEEK.  6.  To  attend  all  Teachers' 
Meetings.  7.  To  inform  the  super- 
intendent in  case  of  expected  absence, 
and  to  provide  a  proper  substitute. 

8.  To  report  to  the  superintendent 
any  scholar  who  persistently  neglects 
to  learn  the  lessons  as  appointed,  or 
who  refuses  to  obey  the  rules  neces  • 
sary  for  the  maintenance  of  order. 

9.  To  study  the  lessons  during  the 
week,  so  as  to  be  prepared  to  instruct 
the  class  profitably  on  Sunday.  10. 
To  induce  the  scholars,  by  precept 
and  example,  to  contribute  to  the 
missionary  boxes. 


QUALIPIOATIOIfS. 

309.  Piety.— Of  all  qualifications 
in  a  successful  teacher,  real  and  ex- 
perimental piety  is  by  far  the  most 
important.  A  teacher  in  a  Sunday- 
school,  actually  and  professedly  un- 
converted, seems  an  anomaly  simply 
absurd.  I  should  hardly  waste  a 
moment  in  discussing  such  a  point. 
— Dr.  Tyng. 

310.  What  is  Sunday- 
school  teaching  but  a  ministry  for 


God  ?  ♦  In  the  very  nature  of  the 
employment,  it  is  a  work  for  Chris- 
tians, and  for  them  alone.  The  idea 
is  sometimes  suggested,  that  getting 
some  vain  and  irreligious  persons  to 
teach  others,  may  be  the  means  of 
leading  them  to  learn  themselves. 
This  would  seem  too  wicked  to  be 
merely  absurd,  if  applied  to  the 
ministry  of  the  Gospel.  But  though 
more  manageable  and  more  easily 
remedied,  it  is  equally  incongruous 
in  the  present  case.  "We  cannot 
afibrd  to  present  our  children  as 
merely  demonstrative  subjects. 
Their  interests  and  welfare  are  the 
things  for  which  we  seek.  And  in 
securing  an  agency  for  the  blessing, 
the  Lord  must  first  caU  to  His  ser- 
vice, and  then  instruct  and  prepare 
for  its  adequate  fulfilment.  Our 
teachers  must  be  in  choice  and  hearts 
and  life  the  children  and  servants  of 
the  living  God. — Dr.  Tyng. 


311. 


You  are  living  as  the 


men  lived  who  worked  for  Noah. 
As  every  stroke  of  their  work  on  the 
ark  only  added  to  their  knowledge 
of  the  coming  deluge,  and  of  the 
necessity  of  speedy  repentance,  so 
each  lesson  you  give  adds  to  your 
responsibility,  your  knowledge  of  the 
truth,  and  your  sin  in  rejecting 
Christ.  They  did  their  work  well 
on  the  vessel  which  saved  Noah's 
household,  and  yet  were  lost.  You 
may  be,  outwardly,  a  good  teacher, 
and  yet,  if  you  will  not  accept 
Christ,  you  will  lose  your  soul.  It 
must  ^have  added  to  the  misery 
which  these  men  felt,  drc^wning, 
while  Noah  floated  off"  in  safety,  to 
know  that  they  had  worked  on  the 
ark  which  saved  him,  and  yet  had 
no  interest  in  it  or  benefit  from  it. 
So,  if  at  the  last  day  you  stand  on 
the  left  side  of  the  Judge,  your 
wretchedness  will  only  be  the 
greater,  as  you  remember  that  you 
helped  to  build  up  Christ's  kingdom, 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WORLD. 


103 


having  no  part  or  lot  in  the  matter 
yourself. — Taylor. 


312. 


It  was  a  pertinent  re- 


mark of  the  excellent  Leighton,  that 
"a  minister's  life  is  the  life  of  his 
ministry ;"  and  it  is  as  applicable  to 
the  Sunday-school  teacher — to  the 
instructor  of  babes — as  to  the  Cliris- 
tian  minister.  There  is  an  intimate 
connection  between  the  life  of  a 
spiritual  workman  and  the  success 
of  his  labour.  It  is  no  mere  intel- 
lectual, mechanical,  or  emotional 
connection.  It  is  not  the  power  of 
thinking,  or  the  clearness  of  expres- 
sing thought,  or  the  style  of  teach- 
ing, or  the  persuasive  address,  that 
secures  the  greatest  success,  though 
these  endowments  are  to  be  earnestly 
coveted;  it  is  ''the  rhetoric  of  the 
life  "  which  is  most  influential.  But 
what  is  that  life  which  is  so  blest  ? — 
Dr.  Steel. 


313. 


"Above   all,"   said   a 


man  of  God,  "  I  will  be  sure  to  live 
well,  because  the  virtuous  life  of  a 
Christian  teacher  is  the  most  power- 
ful eloquence  to  persuade  all  that  see 
it  to  reverence  and  love,  and,  at 
least,  to  desire  to  live  like  Him. 
And  this  I  will  do,  because  I  know 
we  live  in  an  age  that  hath  more 
need  of  ""good  examples  than  pre- 
cepts."— Dr.  Steel. 

314.  Need  of  Prayer. — "Omit 
either  ;  and  the  other  is  lost 
labour.  Prayer  without  study 
is  presumption;  and  study  with- 
out prayer,  atheism.  You  take 
your  books  in  vain  into  your 
hand,  if  you  turn  them  over,  and 
never  look  higher :  and  you  take 
Ood's  name  in  vain  within  your  lips 
if  you  cry,  Da,  Domine  (Give, 
Lord),  and  never  stir  further." — 
Bp.  Sanderson. 

315.  In  the   study   of  the 

Scriptures — a  very  necessary  work 
for   the   faithful  teacher — prayer  is 


specially  important.  Luther  declared 
that  he  ' '  often  obtained  more  know- 
ledge in  a  short  time  by  prayer,  than 
by  many  hours  of  study ;"  and  he 
made  an  aphorism,  that  deserves  to 
be  written  over  every  teacher's  closet 
— "  To  pray  well  is  to  study  well." — 
Dr.  Steel. 


316. 


During     some     great 


argument,  long  years  ago,  one  of  the 
debaters  was  observed  very  busily 
employed  with  his  pencil.  Before  he 
arose  to  speak,  his  case  seemed  almost 
hopeless,  but  he  had  not  spoken 
many  minutes  before  the  minds  of 
his  hearers  were  changed,  and  he  was 
declared  victor.  His  notes  were 
examined,  when  it  was  found  that 
they  consisted  of  only  two  words, 
"  Light,  Lord !"  It  was  the  prayer 
of  that  speaker's  heart  going  forth  to 
God.  Such  must  be  the  prayer  of 
the  Sunday-schoolteacher,  "Light, 
Lord !"  and  when  he  gets  light  unto 
his  own  soul  he  cannot  help  shedding 
it  upon  the  souls  of  others." — 
House. 

317.  The  Key  of  Prayer.  —  It 
was  on  the  Sabbath  morning,  as  the 
day  broke  upon  the  poor  pilgrims  in 
Doubting  Castle,  that  Christian,  "  as 
one  awake,"  said,  "What  a  fool  I 
am  !  Am  I  to  lie  in  a  stinking  dun- 
geon, when  I  may  as  well  walk  at 
liberty  ?  I  have  a  key  in  my  bosom 
called  Promise,  that  will,  I  am  per- 
suaded, open  any  lock  in  Doubting 
Castle."  That  key  opened  the  dun- 
geon door,  and,  though  it  went 
desperately  hard,  the  lock  of  the 
iron  gate  also,  and  the  prisoners  went 
forth  on  to  the  king' s  highway.  Have 
we  no  key  of  promise  ?  What  may 
we  not  ask? — what  not  expect  to 
receive  ?  Augustine  said  of  his 
mother,  "  She  beset  me  with  prayer; 
I  could  not  withstand  her  prayers." 
Do  we  deal  thus  with  our  children 
— personally,  privately,  individually  ? 
Do   we   know  what    ' '  praying  and 


104 


STFNDAY    SCHOOL   WOELD. 


working  "is?  Those  men  wlio  are 
engaged  in  sculpturing  that  solid 
marble  arcliitraye  daily  sharpen  their 
tools,  and  ascend  the  scaffold  to 
advance  their  -work ;  soon,  however, 
their  tools  are  blunted,  and  they 
come  down  again  to  repeat  the  pro- 
cess. Ours  is  a  work  worth  doing 
well.  We  cannot  do  it  without  the 
Lord's  help.  Take  apostolic  exam- 
ple. The  Epistles  were  their  teach- 
ings. They  begin  them  and  close 
them  with  prayer,  and  the  whole  in- 
struction is  saturated  with  this  spirit. 
Take  out  yoin-  key,  you  who  say  you 
are  discouraged  by  want  of  success, 
and  overcome  with  doubts,  and  fears, 
and  reluctances,  and  use  it  as  Chris- 
tian did — plead  the  precious  promises, 
ask  the  help  you  need,  and  the  bless- 
ing you  lack,  and  wait  till  you  re- 
ceive it;  yea,  " prove  me  now  here- 
with, saith  the  Lord  of  hosts,  if  I  will 
not  open  you  the  windows  of  heaven, 
and  poui'  you  out  a  blessing  that 
there  shall  not  be  room  enough  to 
receive  it."  Abeady  the  answer 
comes  to  the  Christian  teacher,  "  Be- 
hold, I  will  pour  out  My  Spirit  upon 
jouV— Charles  Reed,  M.P. 

318.  Love.  —  With  love  the 
teacher  has  the  key  to  the  hearts  of 
his  scholars.  Love  can  soften  the 
hardest  heart,  and  find  entrance 
where  no  authority  could  gain  ad- 
mission. Love  laughs  at  locksmiths. 
Like  the  loadstone  of  Oriental  fable, 
which  di'ew  the  nails  out  of  ships 
until  they  fell  to  pieces,  this  Chris- 
tian love  di-aws  out  all  feelings  that 
can  reciprocate  affection,  and  leaves 
a  broken  and  contrite  heart  prostrate 
at  the  cross. — Dr.  Steel. 


319. 


^'Please,  sir,  we  belongs 


to  you,  and  you  belongs  to  us,"  said 
a  poor  boy  to  his  teacher  one  Sunday. 
The  boy's  phrase  was  homely,  but  by 
it  he  unconsciously  pronounced  a  very 
high  compliment  upon  his  teacher. 
He  showed  that  the  teacher  had  won 


the  friendship  of  his  pupils,  and  was 
recognised  by  them  as  Mhehc friend. 
He  had  forged  a  golden  heart-link, 
by  which  he  and  his  class  were 
indissolubly  joined  together.  Boys 
who  feel  they  belong  to  their  teacher, 
and  that  their  teacher  belongs  to 
them,  will  be  very  likely  to  follow 
his  guidance  and  be  led  by  him  to 
the  cross. — S.  S.  Scrap -booh. 

320.  Love  the  Worst. — When  the 
opening  exercises  are  almost  over,  a 
boy  with  hair  uncombed,  and  hands 
and  face  that  bear  only  the  faintest 
suggestion  of  soap  and  water,  will 
come  straggling  into  the  class.  His 
teacher  tries  to  welcome  with  a 
kindly-spoken  word,  but  he  deigns 
no  reply.  His  lowering  brow,  his 
muttering  tones,  and,  sometimes, 
impudent  words,  are  the  only  ex- 
planation that  he  condescends  to  give 
of  his  tardiness  and  lack  of  prepara- 
tion. His  rudeness  and  sullenness 
have  become  imbearable.  And  at 
last  the  teacher  comes  to  feel  for  him 
a  ]Dositive  aversion,  an  utter  dislike. 
His  unruly,  disobedient  conduct  has 
brought  forth  its  natural  fruit,  and 
he  meets  in  the  class  with,  not  only 
coldness  and  indifference,  but  a  sharp 
and  angry  bitterness  which  speaks 
but  too  plainly  of  the  repugnance 
from  w^hich  it  springs.  '  *  Is  it  any 
wonder,"  that  teacher  thinks  to  him- 
self, "Is  it  any  wonder  that  I  can- 
not love  such  a  boy  as  that  ?  How 
caji  I  he  expected  to  love  a  bad 
child f'^  Dear  teacher  of  immortal 
souls,  it  was  not  so  that  the  Great 
Teacher  taught  us.  He  might  £ave 
lavished  all  the  love  that  swelled  fiis 
heart  upon  the  angels,  for  they  were 
good,  holy,  loving,  obedient  to  His 
will.  But  the  choicest  treasures  of 
His  tenderest  love  He  poured  out — 
not  on  the  angels,  not  on  the  good, 
but  on  us — the  sinful.  "  If  He  so 
loved  us,  we  ought  also  to  lovs  one 
another. ' ' — House. 


SITKDAy    SCHOOL   WOELI). 


105 


321.  Love  the  Work. —  Love 
sweetens  toil.  It  makes  it  efficacious. 
When  the  heart  is  opened  the  tongue 
is  loosed.  The  teacher  is  to  be  pitied 
"who  goes  to  his  task  from  no  other 
motive  than  a  sense  of  duty.  He  lacks 
a  great  essential.  He  cannot  succeed 
if  he  have  not  love. — Dr.  Hart. 

322.  Sympathy. — Dr.  Payson,  a 
Christ-like  man,  tells  us,  "  I  never 
seemed  lit  to  say  a  word  to  a  sinner, 
except  when  I  had  a  broken  heart 
myself;  when  I  was  subdued  and 
melted  into  penitence,  and  felt  as 
though  I  had  just  received  a  pardon 
to  my  own  soul,  and  when  my  heart 
was  full  of  tenderness  and  pity." — 
Br.  Steel. 


323. 


Of    the    celebrated 


Hugby  school,  in  England,  of  which 
Dr.  Arnold  was  principal,  one  of  its 
pupils  remarks  :  ' '  The  one  image 
before  me  is  not  Rugby,  but  Arnold 
— not  Arnold's  words  so  much  as 
Arnold's  manners.  I  cannot  efface, 
if  I  would,  the  photograph  he  made 
on  my  inner  heart."  What  is  true 
of  the  earnest  secular  teacher  is  still 
more  true  of  the  teacher  of  sacred 
things.  ''  The  neck  is  bent  by  the 
sword,"  says  the  Arab  proverb,  "but 
heart  is  bent  by  heart." — House. 

324.  Earnestness. — It  is  Christ's 
work  that  you  are  doing.  He  has 
entrusted  it  to  you.  You  profess  to 
love  your  Master.  Are  you  really  in 
earnest  in  yoiu'  work  for  Him  ?  It 
is  a  great  work.  Immortal  souls 
committed  to  your  trust;  a  work 
shared  by  Grod  Himself ;  a  work,  for 
the  promotion  of  which,  Christ  died ; 
in  which  angels  are  interested.  0 
thou,  who,  in  Grod's  providence,  art 
called  to  work  in  the  same  held  with 
prophets,  apostles,  and  martyrs,  with 
the  angels,  with  Jesus,  with  the 
Father  Himself —  ar^  tliou  in  earnest  ? 
The  time  is  short.  Your  own  life  is 
uncertain.     Your  pupil  is    mortal. 


Youth  ripens  into  manhood.  The 
golden  opportunity  is  fleeting.  ' '  The 
night  Cometh."  Are  you  in  earnest  ? 
Fellow-teacher,  face  your  own  con- 
science, and,  remembering  that  God 
is  looking  on  your  work,  ask  yourself 
the  question:  Am  I  in  earnest? 
Whatsoever  thy  hand  jindeth  to  do, 
do  it  ivith  thy  niiyht. — House. 

325.  "  Wist  ye  not  that  I 

must  he  about  My  Father'' s  business  V 
That  business  interested  and  absorbed 
Him.  It  engaged  all  His  thoughts, 
feelings,  and  energies.  It  was  His 
consecrated  service.  Have  you  the 
spirit  of  Christ?  Then,  Hke  Him, 
you  will  be  about  your  Father's 
business.  You  will  tliink  it  strange 
to  be  otherwise  employed,  or  to  be 
suspected,  wherever  you  may  be,  of 
being  engaged  in  anything  else.  Let 
your  work  be  a  passion,  a  pursuit,  a 
business.  Let  it  possess  you,  draw 
forth  all  your  energies,  your  zeal, 
your  care,  your  prayers,  your  watch- 
fulness.— Dr.  Steel. 

326.- 


It  is  recorded  in  Scottish 
story,  that  when  Robert  Bruce  died, 
he  bequeathed  his  heart  to  his  brave 
warrior,  Douglas,  to  be  interred  in 
the  Holy  Sepulchre  at  Jerusalem. 
Douglas  placed  the  precious  relic  in 
a  casket,  which  he  wore  in  his  bosom, 
and  set  out  on  his  journey  to  fulfil 
the  mission  entrusted  to  him  by 
his  departed  king.  When  passing 
through  Spain,  he  was  attacked  by 
the  Moors,  and  being  almost  over- 
powered, he  is  said  to  have  taken  the 
casket  from  his  bosom,  and  to  have 
thrown  it  among  his  enemies;  ex- 
claiming, that  where  the  heart  of 
Bruce  went  before,  a  Douglas  would 
never  fail  to  foUow.  This  is  the 
spirit  of  the  Christian.  He  follows 
the  heart  of  Jesus,  and  is  intent  upon 
the  same  object  as  fiUed  his  Master's 
soul. — Dr.  Steel. 


327. 


The  teacher's  thought 


and  plan  must  be  that  of  a  real  and 


106 


SUNDAY  SCHOOL   WOBLD. 


living  messenger  of  Christ,  to  a  little 
congregation  whose  eternity  may- 
depend  upon  this  immediate  relation 
and  opportunity,  and  whose  salvation, 
never  to  be  secured  but  in  a  cordial 
acceptance  of  a  Saviour's  finished 
work  of  love,  may  be  secured  under 
the  present  agency,  and  with  the 
Divine  blessing  on  the  means  now 
faithfully  employed. — Dr.  Tyng. 

328.  Oonversion ITeedful. — "For 
any  one,"  says  an  old  Puritan,  An- 
thony Burgess,  ''  to  speak  of  regene- 
ration of  faith,  when  a  man  has  no 
spiritual  understanding  of  these 
things,  is  to  talk  of  the  sweetness  of 
honey  when  we  have  never  tasted  it ; 
or  of  the  excellence  of  such  a  coun- 
try, which  we  were  never  in,  but 
know  by  maps  only.  If  thou  know- 
est  the  truth  of  God  but  by  books, 
by  authors  only,  and  thy  own  heart 
feeleth  not  the  power  of  these  things, 
thou  art  but  as  the  conduit,  that 
letteth  out  wine  or  refreshing  water 
to  others,  but  thou  thyself  tasteth 
not  of  it;  or  like  the  hand  that 
directeth  the  passenger,  but  thou 
thyself  standest  still."— Dr.  Steel 

329.  Unconverted  Teachers.— 
^'  Should  we  never  employ  an  uncon- 
verted teacher  ? "  I  cannot  say 
never,  without  qualification.  If  the 
question  related  to  trifling,  thought- 
less persons,  my  reply  would  be  an 
emphatic  never.  But  sometimes  a 
person  of  irreproachable  reputation, 
of  prayerful  habits,  and  serious  turn 
of  mind,  not  professing  to  be  justi- 
fied, wishes  to  teach.  I  would  not 
reject  such,  though  I  would  seek  to 
make  him  feel  the  need  of  going  to 
Christ  in  good  earnest  as  a  condition 
of  successful  teaching.  It  is  a  good 
rule  never  to  employ  an  unconverted 
teacher,  but  it  must  be  applied  with 
godly  judgment. — D.  Wise,  D.D. 

330.  ■  "Would  you  ever  em- 
ploy unconverted    teachers?      An- 


swer :  Get  the  best  teachers  you  can ; 
the  most  pious,  the  best  skilled  and 
regular.  When  you  have  taken  the 
hest  you  can  get,  you  have  done  all 
your  duty,  and  God  does  not  require 
any  more,  for  He  accepts  according  to 
what  we  have.  In  some  remote  sec- 
tions, it  is  simply  a  question  between 
accepting  moral  and  upright  young 
people  and  having  no  teachers  at  aU. 
They  can  teach  the  elemental  truths 
of  religion,  and  God  has  repeatedly 
employed  the  most  unworthy  persons 
to  deliver  His  most  solemn  messages. 
Therefore,  get  the  hest  teachers  you 
can.  It  is  the  message,  not  the  mes- 
senger.— Pardee. 

331.  Not    every   Christian. 

teacher  is  alike  adapted  to  the 
special  work  of  leading  the  children 
directly  to  Christ ;  I  would  not,  for 
that  reason,  however,  reject  their 
services.  Many  a  worthy  young 
lady,  though  herself  unconverted,  by 
faithfully  teaching  the  theology  and 
morals  of  Christianity  in  the  Sunday- 
school,  is  contributing  powerfully  to 
the  work  of  evangelizing  the  world. 
Employ  converted  teachers,  if  you 
have  them,  but  by  no  means  discard 
the  volunteer  services  of  any  well- 
meaning  and  well-informed  members 
of  the  congregation.  A  thousand 
times  better  these  than  none  ! — J.  JE. 
King,  B.JD. 

332.  It    is   a   question  of 

supply  and  demand.  Get  the  good 
ones,  if  you  can ;  if  you  can  not,  get 
the  best  you  can.  But  there  is  a 
great  responsibility  resting  on  the 
superintendent.  In  the  fifteen  years 
I  have  been  superintendent,  I  have 
admitted  seventy-two  unconverted 
teachers.  Out  of  that  seventy-two, 
seventy-one  were  brought  to  Christ ; 
and  the  other  his  father  took  away. 
The  secret  was  with  the  God  of  hea- 
ven. So,  if  you  have  to  employ  an 
impenitent  teacher,  leave  no  stone 
unturned  to  bring  him  to  Jesus,  and 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WOELD. 


107 


you  will  succeed.  It  is  impossible 
for  aiLj  oue  to  continue  teaching  a 
child  the  truths  of  the  Grospel,  under 
the  eye  of  a  holy,  faithful  superin- 
tendent, and  not  himself  feel  theii* 
power;  he  will  either  give  up  the 
work  entirely,  or  submit  his  heart  to 
Christ— Hahh  Wells. 

333.  Punctuality  in  Teachers. — 
It  seems  as  if  some  people  came  into 
the  world  a  little  behind  time,  and 
they  never  catch  up.  They  are  al- 
ways and  everywhere  a  little  late. 
The  habit  is  a  grievous  misfortune 
to  any  one.  In  a  teacher  it  is  mis- 
chievous in  the  extreme.  It  betrays,^ 
too,  a  lack  in  the  character,  which 
it  is  difficult  to  describe  by  its  true 
name  without  giving  offence.  If  a 
teacher  is  not  in  his  seat  at  the 
proper  time,  he  thereby  throws  the 
care  of  his  class  upon  some  one  else. 
Either  some  other  teacher,  or  the 
superintendent,  must  do  what  pro- 
perly belongs  to  the  one  absenting 
himself.  But  the  superintendent  and 
the  other  teachers  have  duties  of 
their  own  to  attend  to.  Is  it  right 
for  one  person  thus,  wdthout  leave 
or  warning,  to  throw  his  own  re- 
sponsibilities upon  the  shoulders  of 
another?  Is  there  uprightness,  or 
honesty,  or  any  proper  and  conscien- 
tious sense  of  one's  responsibility  to 
the  class,  to  the  school,  to  the  super- 
intendent, thus  to  leave  the  matter 
at  sixes  and  sevens,  just  at  the  most 
critical  moment  in  the  whole  session, 
namelv,  at  the  time  of  opening  ? — 
Dr.  Hart. 


334. 


Teachers  err  here,  fre- 


quently, through  want  of  considera 
tion.  Suppose  a  school  consists  of 
one  hundred  and  iifty  scholars,  and 
the  teachers  twenty-live.  Suppose 
several  teachers  come  so  late  that  the 
superintendent  must  delay  opening 
the  school  for  five  minutes.  This 
seems  a  short  time  to  wait.  Take 
the   one  hundred  and   seventy-five 


which  compose  the  school  and  mul- 
tiply it  by  five,  and  you  have  eight 
hundred  and  seventy-five  minutes 
lost.  Suppose  this  takes  place  once 
on  every  Sabbath;  the  loss  in  one 
year  is  seven  hundred  and  fifty- 
eight  hours ;  and  suppose  the  same 
set  of  teachers  continue  this  for  five 
years,  it  would  be  three  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  ninety  hours. 
If,  now,  we  suppose  the  habit  to  be 
by  them  perpetuated  in  the  school, 
and  transmitted  down,  and,  above 
all,  be  woven  into  the  habits  of  the 
hundreds  of  pupils,  and  becomes  a 
part  of  their  character,  no  arithmetic 
can  compute  the  evils  of  such  a 
habit. — Todd. 


335. 


One    qualification  in 


our  teachers  remains  to  be  noticed, 
which  must  be  deemed  absolute  and 
essential.  It  is  punctuality.  Regu- 
larity of  attendance,  and  accuracy 
of  time.  A  shiftless,  uncertain  Sun- 
day-school teacher,  sometimes  pre- 
sent, sometimes  absent,  sometimes 
ready,  generally  late,  is  like  a  broken 
troth,  and  a  smoke  in  the  nose,  l^o 
talents  or  qualifications  besides  can 
compensate  for  the  want  of  fidelity 
in  attendance  or  punctuality  in  time. 
Habits  of  order  are  indispensable  in 
this  relation — to  the  comfort  and  to 
the  success  of  the  work.  The  esti- 
mate of  personal  responsibility  in  this 
engagement  exhibited  by  a  teacher, 
the  seriousness  with  which  the  obli- 
gation is  considered,  the  facility 
with  which  it  is  neglected,  or  some 
other  call  or  obstacle  is  deemed  an 
adequate  excuse,  are  to  be  regarded 
as  no  less  than  high  moral  traits,  or 
radical  moral  deficiencies.  Always 
present,  always  ready,  always  in  time, 
are  fundamental  requisitions  in  a 
Sunday-school  teacher.  Nor  can  any 
excuse  be  adequate  or  reasonable, 
which  does  not  involve  some  obstacle 
absolutely  insuperable.  And  when 
absence   is   absolutely  unavoidable, 


108 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


then  a  fitting  substitute  should  be 
sent  in  the  place.  The  superintendent 
is  most  unjustly  burdened,  in  the 
compulsion  to  hunt  up  impossible 
supplies,  or  to  groan  over  vacancies 
which  cannot  be  ^ed.-^Br.  Tyng. 

336.  A  young  man  who, 

during  his  probation,  had  been  rather 
over  solicitous  to  have  a  class  to  him- 
self, was  absent  the  second  Sunday 
morning  after  his  appointment  to 
one.  On  entering,  in  the  afternoon, 
he  was  met  with  the  salutation, — 
"Where  were  you  this  morning, 
sir?"  "I  was  not  quite  well,  and 
the  morning  was  so  foggy,  I  was 
afraid  to  come."  Never  shaU  we 
forget  the  indignant  glance  of  the 
superintendent's  eye,  or  the  tender 
tone  of  his  voice,  as  he  replied, — 
**  And  are  you  always  quite  well 
when  behind  the  counter,  and  is  the 
morning  never  foggy  when  you  are 
sent  to  attend  a  customer?  Be 
ashamed,  my  dear  young  friend,  to 
ofier  your  heavenly  Master  an  excuse 
which  your  master  on  earth  would 
reject." — Davids. 

337. Punctuality  in  a  teacher 

is  vitally  connected  with  the  pros- 
perity of  the  school.  When  one  con- 
siders the  importance  of  the  object 
in  which  you  are  engaged,  and  adds 
to  this  the  little  time  which  at  most 
you  can  command  for  seeking  it,  one 
might  have  presumed  that  it  would 
be  quite  unnecessary  to  caution  you 
against  making  that  little  less.  And 
yet  it  is  painful  to  be  obliged  to  as- 
sert, that  there  is  scarcely  one  evil 
under  which  the  whole  system  more 
severely  suifers,  than  a  want  of  punc- 
tuality in  the  teachers.  It  is  an  evil 
which  eats  into  the  very  core  of  the 
institution.  Precisely  in  the  degree 
in  which  it  exists,  the  order  of  the 
school  must  be  interrupted,  the  so- 
lemnity of  instruction  be  disturbed, 
and  the  whole  machine  be  impeded. 
Nor  will  the  mischief  stop  here.    The 


children,  perceiving  that  it  is  useless 
to  be  there  before  their  teachers,  and 
imitating  their  irregularity,  will  sink 
into  the  same  habits  of  inattention 
and  neglect.  Late  masters  must 
make  late  scholars.  It  is  useless  for 
you  to  admonish  your  class  to  be 
early,  if  by  example  you  instruct 
them  to  be  late. — J.  A,  James. 


338. 


A  teacher,  regularly 


accustomed  to  enter  school  after  the 
exercises  had  commenced,  was  met 
by  the  superintendent,  one  morning, 
with  the  gentle  reproof,  "  My  dear, 
you  are  rather  late  to-day."  That 
teacher  was  never  late  again.  But 
so  to  govern,  the  eye  must  speak,  as 
well  as  the  mouth.  There  must  be  a 
mild  cutting  look,  a  mournful  pained 
manner,  to  go  direct  to  the  heart, 
and  make  the  teacher  feel  that  the 
superintendent  thinks  punctuality  an 
all-important  requisite.  If  a  teacher 
persists  in  being  irregular,  he  should 
not  be  appointed  to  any  stated  class. 
The  superintendent  should  anxiously 
train  new  teachers,  and  those  chiejly 
from  the  ranks  (f  the  taught.  Pious 
scholars  should  ,be,  in  his  mind, 
always  looked  upon  as  in  training 
for  the  office  of  teacher. — Davids. 

339.  Irregular  Attendance.  — 
Another  grievous  evil,  and  source  of 
multiplied  evils.  A  sore  trial  to  the 
superintendent.  A  great  loss  to  the 
scholars.  A  course  that  is  not  tole- 
rated anywhere  else ;  and  which,  if 
occurring  in  any  professional  or  mer- 
cantile business,  would  utterly  dis- 
arrange them,  and  bring  them  to  a 
stand- still.  If  pursued  by  a  clerk  or 
employe,  in  any  earthly  interest,  it 
would  insure  his  dismissal.  And  yet 
many  teachers  stay  away  from  their 
classes  without  compunction,  and  pro- 
vide no  substitute. — Dr.  Hart. 

340.  An  Aptness  to  Teach. — 
I  have  said  that  this  is  an  acquisition. 
Though  there  are  some  more  likely 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WOKLD. 


109 


to  1)6  successful  teaeliers  than  others, 
it  is  only  the  trial  faithfully  performed 
that  creates  adaptation.  For  this 
there  are  several  requisites.  There 
is  the  resolute  etideavour.  Persever- 
ance is  but  the  progress  of  earnest 
purpose,  and  success  is  generally  its 
result.  Xo  man  ever  exemplified 
this  iron  resolution  more  than  the 
late  George  Stephenson,  the  inventor 
and  maker  of  railway  locomotives. 
He  had  everything  against  him  when 
he  began  the  line  to  Liverpool  from 
Manchester.  Engineers  of  eminence, 
indeed  all  classes  of  people,  believed 
Chat  Moss  to  be  incapable  of  being 
made  to  bear  a  railway.  When  Mr. 
Stephenson  was  asked  his  opinion,  he 
said,  "  fFe  must  per  sever  e.^^  Such 
men  are  rare.  But  their  example 
nerves  the  courage  of  a  thousand 
fainter  hearts.— D/'.  Steel. 

341.  Tact. — Love  swings  on 
little  hinges.  It  keeps  an  active 
little  servant  to  do  a  good  deal  of 
its  fine  work.  The  name  of  the  little 
servant  is  Tact.  Tact  is  nimble- 
footed  and  quick-fingered ;  tact  sees 
without  looking ;  tact  has  always  a 
good  deal  of  small  change  on  hand  ; 
tact  carries  no  heavy  weapons,  but 
can  do  wonders  with  a  sling  and 
stone ;  tact  never  runs  its  head 
against  a  stone  wall;  tact  always 
spies  a  sycamore  tree  up  which  to 
climb  when  things  are  becoming 
crowded  and  unmanageable  on  the 
level  ground:  tact  has  a  cunning 
way  of  availing  itself  of  a  word,  or 
a  smile,  or  a  gracious  wave  of  the 
hand ;  tact  carries  a  bunch  of  curi- 
ously-fashioned keys  which  can  turn 
all  sorts  of  locks ;  tact  plants  its 
monosyllables  wisely,  for,  being  a 
monosyllable  itself,  it  arranges  its 
own  order  with  all  the  familiarity  of 
friendship  ;  tact — sly,  versatile,  div- 
ing, running,  flying  tact — governs 
the  great  world,  yet  touches  the  big 
baby  under  the  impression  that  it 


has  not  been  touched  at  all.  Mrs. 
Horace  Mann  tells  of  being  in  a 
mission  infant  class  room  once  when 
the  general  question  of  "how  many 
of  you  wish  to  be  good"  was  put. 
Every  hand  except  that  of  a  new- 
comer, a  boy  of  six,  went  up.  The 
teacher  put  the  question  again,  in 
hopes  the  boy  —  having,  perhaps, 
misunderstood  her — would  also  hold 
up  his  hand.  But  he  refused.  She 
was  on  the  point  of  scolding  him, 
when  Mrs.  Mann,  begging  leave  to 
speak,  quietly  walked  to  the  child, 
put  her  arm  round  his  neck,  and 
asked  him  if  he  knew  what  it  was 
to  be  good.  With  a  face  full  of  un- 
speakable infantile  woe,  and  his 
eyes  and  throat  overrunning  and 
choking,  he  cried  out,  " 'Ter  to  be 
whipped."  He  was  the  child  of  a 
mother  who  always  brought  goodness 
to  her  cliildren  by  the  rod,  and  hence 
the  child's  misapprehension.  The 
tact  of  Mrs.  Mann  was  worth  a 
thousand  scoldings.  A  Michigan 
superintendent  was  a  railroad  sta- 
tion-master. One  day  he  detected 
four  bad  boys  stealing  sugar  from 
a  hogshead  in  a  freight  car.  He 
locked  the  boys  in,  and,  as  the  only 
condition  of  releasing  them  and 
hushing  the  matter  up,  he  required 
them  to  join  his  SalDbath-school. 
They  did  so,  and  in  a  few  weeks  three 
of  those  four  boys  united  with  the 
Church.  Some  other  superintendents 
might  have  had  them  in  the  hands 
of  the  police  within  an  hour,  with- 
out concern  as  to  the  moral  results. 
Bishop  James,  of  the  MBthodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  in  addi*essing  a  class 
of  young  ministers,  said  :  "If  the 
people  have  a  prejudice,  it  is  best  to 
flank,  and  not  to  storm  it.  You  wiU 
never  lose  anything  by  tact,  by 
gentleness,  by  kindness,  patience, 
and  love."  What  is  true  in  the 
case  of  the  minister  is  true  in  that 
of  the  Sun  day- school  superintendent 
in  his  relations  to  his  teachers  and 


110 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


scliolars,  and  of  the  teachers  in  their 
relations  to  their  scholars.  Have 
the  serpent's  wisdom  and  the  dove's 
harmlessness,  and  success  is  yours 
beyond  peradventure. — House. 


PEEPAKATIOlf. 

342.  A  Great  Want.— An  im- 
proved intelligence  is  a  great  deside- 
ratum among  Sunday-school  teach- 
ers. There  is  a  general  feeling  in 
all  thoughtful  superintendents  and 
others  who  are  observing  the  present 
character  of  those  who  instruct 
classes  on  the  Sabbath-day,  that  they 
have  a  scarcity  of  knowledge  to  be 
able  to  teach  with  success.  —  Dr. 
Steel 


343.  Stationary  Teachers. — 
Some  teachers  are  absolutely  sta- 
tionary ;  they  acquire  no  new 
thoughts,  or  if  they  do,  they  do  not 
retain  them  long  enough  to  make 
them  of  any  use.  They  read  little, 
think  less,  and  soon  have  their  stock 
of  thoughts  exhausted.  The  scholars 
are  sure  to  know  the  depth  of 
their  teacher.  They  will  be  inqui- 
sitive, quick,  bright,  and  it  may  be, 
will  go  beyond  him.  As  soon  as 
the  pupil  has  arrived  at  that  point, 
he  will  be  uneasy,  his  duties  will 
become  irksome,  and  he  will  wish 
to  leave  the  school.  The  remedy  is 
obvious.  Teaching  must  be  provided 
which  is  sufficiently  advanced  to  meet 
the  wants  of  every  class,  and  of 
every  individual.  This  is  a  point  at 
which  the  superintendent  ought  care- 
fully to  look;  and  perhaps  he  will 
find  that  the  uneasiness  and  rest- 
lessness of  the  scholars  have  been 
blamed  when  the  fault  is  not  wholly 
theirs. —  Todd, 

344.  Knowing  and  Teaching. — 
Nothing  is  plainer  than  that  a  man 
cannot  teach  what  he  does  not  know. 


He  must  know  a  thing  himself  before 
he  can  teach  it  to  others.  This  is  so 
nearly  a  truism  that  it  seems  trifling 
to  insist  upon  it.  Yet  one  cannot 
have  much  to  do  with  the  manage- 
ment of  Sabbath-schools  without 
being  forced  to  the  conclusion  that 
this  is  not  an  accepted  truth  in  the 
practical  beliefs  of  a  great  many 
teachers.  I  feel,  therefore,  that  it 
will  not  be  entirely  beating  the  air, 
if  I  occupy  a  few  paragraphs  in 
urging  upon  teachers  the  duty  of 
study. — ])r.  Hart. 

345.  Enow,  in  order  to  Teach. 
— * '  Let  a  teacher  first  understand 
the  subject  himself;  let  him  know 
that  he  understands  it ;  let  him  re- 
duce it  to  its  simplest  elements,  and 
then  let  him  see  that  his  pupils  un- 
derstand it." —  Wayland. 

346.  Too  little  Study.— I  have 
had  "great  reason  to  believe  there  is 
far  too  little  actual  study  on  the  ap- 
pointed lesson  by  the  most  of  teachers. 
In  hurried  and  extemporaneous  work 
in  teaching  I  have  no  confidence.  It 
is  as  worthless  in  the  Sunday-school 
as  in  the  pulpit.  In  each  case  it 
wearies  and  disgusts  the  speaker  and 
the  hearers  equally.  The  Sunday 
lesson  should  be  the  week's  study. 
The  reading  and  the  thought  should 
be  given  to  it.  Ample  notes  should 
be  made  of  the  information  attained. 
And  the  teacher  should  come  pre- 
pared to  the  utmost  possible  extent 
with  information  on  the  whole  sub- 
ject, and  the  ability  to  answer  any 
reasonable  question,  or  to  expound 
any  natural  difficulty  whiclu  may 
occur. — Dr.  Tyng. 

347i  Dr.  Lonsdale,  Bishop 

of  Lichfield,  1843,  who  died  October 
19th,  1867,  had  spoken,  on  one  occa- 
sion, on  the  diligent  painstaking 
preparation  for  the  pulpit.  A  verbose 
young  clergyman  replied  : — "  Why, 
my  lord,  I  often  go  to  the  vestry  even 
without  knowing  what  text  I  shall 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WORLD. 


Ill 


preacli  upon,  yet  I  go  up  and  preach 
an  extempore  sermon,  and  think 
nothing  of  it."  The  Bishop  replied, 
' '  Ah,  well,  that  agrees  with  what  I 
hear  from  your  people ;  for  they 
hear  the  sermon,  and  they  also  think 
nothing  of  it." — 3Iassingham. 

348.  Value  of  Training.— With- 
out doubt  hea7-t  is  the  grand  requisite, 
and  heartlessness  the  capital  defect 
in  a  Sunday-school  teacher.     Let  us 
go  farther.     There   is   danger,  un- 
questionably great  danger,  that  many 
Sunday- school  teachers  may  come  to 
depend  too  much  upon  their  training, 
and  forget  the  necessity  of  spiritual 
preparation   for    their   great    work. 
But  after  admitting  all  this,  it  does 
not  prove  that  training  is  of  no  con- 
sequence, if  you  have   earnestness. 
It  may  be  true  that  a  man  of  fiery 
energy  will  fell  more  trees  in  a  day, 
with  an  ax  battered  and  edgeless, 
than  a  sluggard  will  with  the  most 
perfect  and  poKshed  instrument ;  but 
it  is  not  true  that  the  earnest  man 
would  not  accomplish  more  by  strik- 
ing  equally  vigorous  blows  with  a 
better    implement.      "Some    men," 
^ays   Mr.   Beecher,    "will   do  more 
with  a  jackknife  than  others  with  a 
whole  chest  of  tools."     Very  true, 
doubtless,  but  that  is  no  reason  why 
all  chests  of  tools  should  be  tossed 
into  the  sea,  and  the  civilization  of 
the   world  go   back  to  jackknives. 
Let  not  an  ostentatious  and  heartless 
culture  be  substituted  for  spiritual 
earnestness.     But  let  us  seek  culture 
and  lose  none  of  our  zeal ;  let  us  find 
the  best  methods  and  be  none  the  less 
diligent ;  let  us  have  the  best  imple- 
ments and  use  them  with  the  most 
tireless    industry.  —  JRev.     Edward 
Eggleston. 

349.  Special  Preparation  Needful. 
— No  man  can  teach  either  old  or 
young  who  trusts  to  his  general  know- 
ledge and  his  fluency  of  speech. 
Less  can  he  do  so  with  the  young. 


The  truths  to  be  taught  must  not 
only  be  familiar,  but  prepared  so  as 
to  be  intelligibly  communicated  to 
the  youthful  mind.  When  the  late 
Dr.  Chalmers  was  Professor  of  Moral 
Philosophy  at  St.  Andrew's,  he  kept 
a  Sabbath- school,  and  his  biographer 
informs  us  that  though  the  scholars 
were  of  the  poorest  children  in  the 
neighbourhood,  "Dr.  Chalmers  pre- 
pared as  carefully  as  for  his  class  in 
the  university ;  some  stray  leaves 
still  existing  on  which  the  questions 
for  the  evening  are  carefully  written 
out."— Dr.  Steel. 

350.  Practical  Study.—"  T  re- 
ceived a  most  useful  hint,"  says 
Cecil,  ' '  from  Dr.  Bacon,  then  father 
of  the  university,  when  I  was  at 
college.  I  used  to  frequently  visit 
him  at  his  living,  near  Oxford ;  he 
would  frequently  say  to  me,  '  What 
are  you  doing  ?  what  are  your 
studies  ?'  '  I  am  reading  so-and-so.' 
'  You  are  quite  wrong.  When  I 
was  young,  I  could  turn  any  piece  of 
Hebrew  into  Greek  verse  with  ease. 
But  when  I  came  into  this  parish, 
and  had  to  teach  ignorant  people,  I 
was  wholly  at  a  loss ;  I  had  no  fur- 
niture. They  thought  me  a  great 
man,  but  that  was  their  ignorance, 
for  I  knew  as  little  as  they  did,  of 
what  was  most  important  for  them 
to  know.  Study  chiefly  what  you 
can  turn  to  good  account  in  your 
future  life.'  " —  Cheever. 

351.  Preparation  and  Pleasure. 
— I  never  knew  a  teacher  who  came 
to  his  class  without  suitable  prepara- 
tion to  enjoy  teaching  ;  and  I  never 
knew  one  who  was  always  prepared 
to  dislike  it. —  Waldo  Abbott. 

352.  Training  needful  for  Teach- 
ing.— The  absolute  necessity  of 
more  thorough  training  for  the  work 
of  teaching  is  now  admitted  by  all 
who  have  had  any  experience  in  the 
working  of  the  Sunday-school  system, 


112 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


and  is  receiving  practical  attention 
from  multitudes  of  earnest  workers  ; 
and  we  beHeve  that  the  more  the 
subject  is  looked  at,  it  will  be  found 
that  next  to  the  importance  of  having 
teachers  of  undotihted  piety,  is  tlie 
importance  of  their  being  thoroughly 
qualified  to  i^npart  instruction.  Nay, 
more ;  while  we  place  it  second  to 
piety  in  importance,  we  believe  that, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  at  the  present 
time  a  greater  need  than  piety  ;  i.e., 
we  think  it  will  be  found  that  we 
are  not  lacking  piety  to  the  same 
extent  as  we  are  lacking  teaching 
power,  and  if  we  had  the  latter  to 
the  same  extent  that  we  have  the 
former,  under  the  blessing  of  God  our 
Schools  would  be  productive  of  results 
such  as  we  have  never  realised,  and 
such  as  i^erhapsfew  of  us  have  dared 
to  hope  for. —  W.  Culverwell. 

353.  Teaching,  an  Art. — Teach- 
ing is  an  art,  and  like  any  other  art, 
it  has  to  be  learned — learned,  too,  by 
stud)^,  observation,  and  practice.  It 
has  its  rules  and  principles.  He  who 
knows  and  practises  them  is  a  good 
workman;  while  he  who  neglects 
them  is,  necessarily,  ineilicient. 
First,  "We  must  get  the  ideas  and 
2irinciples.  Secondly,  We  must  imi- 
tate or  copy  the  good  examples  or 
models ;  and,  thirdly.  We  are  to 
practise  teaching ;  for  the  best  way 
to  learn  how  to  teach  is  to  teach. 
Said  Ralph  WeUs,  when  asked  how 
he  learned  to  teach :  "By  my  mis- 
takes and  failures."  In"  teaching 
others  successfully  we  teach  ourselves 
effectively." — Pardee. 

354.  Thorongh  Knowledge. — 
The  more  varied  and  thorough  the 
knowledge  of  the  teacher  is,  the  bet- 
ter for  his  work.  Its  possession  may 
have  necessitated  much  mental  exer- 
cise, but  it  has,  doubtless,  fostered 
habits  of  thoughtfulness  and  self-im- 
provement. The  pursuit  of  know- 
ledge improves  and  brightens  intelli- 


gence, strengthens  the  reasoning 
powers,  and  supplies  the  mind  with 
material  for  communicating  truth 
and  suggesting  thought  to  others. — 
Dr.  Steel. 

355.  Knowledge  and  Study. — 
Knowledge  is  the  result  of  study. 
' '  There  never  was  an  eminent,  who 
was  not  an  industrious  man,"  said 
Cotton  Mather.  *'I  never  knew  an 
individual  gain  any  considerable 
mass  of  really  digested  and  valuable 
knowledge  without  unwearied  indus- 
try," is  the  testimony  of  one  who  had 
large  opportunities  of  observing  the 
knowledge  of  young  men  who  sought 
to  be  instructors  of  others.  Now, 
study  is  not  much  reading,  or  the 
perusal  of  many  books  ;  it  is  the  ex- 
ercise of  serious  thought  on  what  is 
read,  thereby  making  it  your  own. — 
Dr.  Steel. 

356.  Extracts  while  Eeading, — 
Thus  it  was  that  Southey  sought  to 
utilise  his  own  extensive  reading 
and  the  library  of  13,000  volumes 
which  he  possessed.  Some  who  have 
leisure,  have  made  synopses  or 
abridgments  of  the  works  they  have 
read.  It  is  recorded  of  Dr.  Donne, 
by  his  quaint  biographer,  Tzaak 
Walton,  that  ' '  he  left  the  resultance 
of  1,400  authors,  most  of  them 
abridged  and  analyzed  by  his  own 
hand."  When  a  book  is  not  your 
own,  extracting  is  the  best  means  of 
keeping  what  you  yalue ;  when  it 
is  your  own,  the  index  rerum,  re- 
commended by  Todd,  will  be  very 
useful,  as  it  will  show  you  at  ^  glance 
where  to  find  anything  you  have 
noted. — Dr.  Steel. 

357.  Commentaries. — The  use  of 
commentaries  is  to  be  judiciously 
sought  in  promoting  the  teacher's 
knowledge.  They  have  been  written 
to  aid  in  the  interpretation  of  Scrip- 
ture, ■  and  have  proved  eminently 
serviceable.       One    class    expounds 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL    WORLD. 


113 


the  spiritual  meaning  of  Holy  Writ ; 
and  another  illustrates  it  by  describ- 
ing manners  and  customs  of  the 
Jews,  and  other  people  referred  to  in 
the  text,  by  notes  on  the  natural 
history  often  used  in  the  figures  of 
prophets,  or  the  discourses  of  the 
>Saviour,  and  by  contemporaneous 
history,  which  elucidates  so  much 
of  the  Word  of  God.  Commentaries 
which  are  suggestive  are  more  valu- 
able than  those  which  are  expanded  ; 
an  abridgment  of  the  labours  of  the 
learned,  who  write  for  the  Divine, 
is  much  more  suitable  to  the  less 
leisiu'e  of  the  Sunday-school  teacher. 
It  is  with  such  an  aim  as  this  that 
Dr.  Barnes  wrote  his  notes,  and  Dr. 
Campbell  prepared  his  excellent  edi- 
tion of  the  Scriptures.  They  wrote 
for  Sabbath- school  teachers. — Dr. 
Steel. 

358.  Keep  on  Studying.— ''Hav- 
ing to  form  and  mould  other  minds, 
must  its  teacher  study  and  read 
enough  to  keep  his  own  mind  in  the 
state  of  a  running  stream ;  for  it  is 
ill  drinking  out  of  a  pond,  whose 
stock  of  water  is  merely  the  remains 
of  the  long  past  rains  of  the  "UTiiter 
and  the  spring,  evaporating  and 
diminishing  with  every  day  of 
di'ought." — ArnolcVs  Life. 

359.  The  Work  Demands  Study. 
— jS^ow,  on  the  principle  that  "  what- 
ever is  worth  doing  at  all  is  worth 
doing  well,"  every  teacher  should 
endeavour  to  be  fiilly  adapted  to  his 
scholars,  in  order  successfully  to  dis- 
charge his  work,  and  train  up  his 
children  ' '  in  the  way  they  should 
go."  The  earthly  secret  of  good 
teaching  is  adaptation — a  result, 
' '  not  of  heaven-born  inspiration,  but 
of  home-bred  industry."  It  is  an 
art  to  be  acquired,  rather  than  a  gift 
to  be  born  with. — Dr.  Steel. 

360.  An  Example. — Now,  dear 
brethren,  training  does  not  consist 


in  a  reiteration  again  and  again  of 
the  sweet  sentence,  "Come  to  Jesus," 
but  in  making  the  truth  of  the  lesson 
so  jjlain,  and  ivarm,  and  interesting, 
that  IT  shall  say,  as  it  ever  will, 
"Come";  and  these  three  words, 
2Jlain,  warm,  a7id  interesting,  in- 
volve much  hard  study  and  real 
ivrestling  prayer  for  light.  I  have 
spent  seventeen  hours  upon  my  les- 
son for  next  Sabbath,  already,  this 
week — although  I  have  taught  it 
twice  before — much  of  the  time  over 
the  words,  God  so  loved  the  world ; 
and  when  I  can  begin  to  read  it,  God 
so  loved  ME,  then  I  have  reached  the 
first  step  towards  teaching  it. — 
Ralph  Wells. 

361.  Effect  of  not  Studying. — . 

"  Teacher  said  this  morning,"  ex- 
claimed a  lively  boy,  "  that  Shem 
was  Noah's  eldest  son;  so  I  asked 
him  why  Japheth  was  called  the 
elder  ;  and  he  looked  so  queer !  "  A 
little  girl,  returning  from  school, 
said,  "Sister,  do  not  the  words  in 
italics  in  the  Bible  mean  that  they 
are  not  to  be  found  in  the  original  ? 
because  teacher  said  it  was  meant  to 
be  more  emphatic." — Davids. 

362.  How  to  prepare  a  Lesson. 
— The  work  of  teaching  Divine  truth 
is  so  diSicult  and  important,  that 
every  teacher  should  do  himself  the 
justice  to  make  the  most  clear  and 
careful  preparation.  No  teacher  can 
impart  more  than  he  has  prepared  to 
teach,  and  he  should  therefore  bring 
to  his  class  only  beaten  oil,  well- 
digested  and  weU-adapted  thoughts, 
something  worthy  of  being  taught, 
and  that  will  command  attention  for 
their  own  sake.  It  is  well  for  the 
teacher  to  have  method  and  system, 
as  well  as  a  set  time  and  place  to 
begin  that  preparation.  The  time  to 
commence,  we  think,  should  be  on 
the  afternoon  or  evening  of  the  pre- 
vious Sabbath,  and  the  place  in  the 
quiet  of  the  home  circle  or  the  study. 


114 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL    WORLD. 


1.  Pray  and  read,  and  read  and 
think  and  prat  over  tlie  lesson ;  the 
words  and  the  spirit  of  it.  Here 
look  for  the  best  thoughts  to  use. 

2.  Search  the  Scriptures  with  the 
aid  of  a  Concordance,  or  good  refer- 
ence Bible,  for  the  most  pointed  and 
practical  parallel  passages  and  refer- 
ences ;  they  will  wonderfully  illu- 
minate the  lesson.  3.  By  the  aid  of 
the  Bible  references,  and  a  good  dic- 
tionary, be  careful  to  get  the  clear, 
exact  meaning  of  the  important 
words  of  the  lesson,  in  words  adapted 
to  your  class.  4.  Next  use  your 
Teachers'  Helps,  Commentaries, 
Bible  Greographies,  Bible  Diction- 
aries, Maps,  Antiquities,  etc.  5.  Go 
out  into  the  world  and  gather  excel- 
lent things  for  illustration  of  the 
Bible  truth  from  what  you  see,  hear, 
read,  or  do.  6.  Visit  your  scholars' 
homes  in  the  preparation  of  your 
lessons,  and  learn  their  peculiar 
trials  and  temptations.  Study  well 
your  children,  child-natui'e,  and 
child-language.  "Peep  of  Day" 
and  "  Line  upon  Line  "  are  pure 
specimens  of  child-language.  7. 
Get  something  for  each  pupil,  for 
Johnny  is  not  at  all  like  Willie,  and 
Willie  is  not  like  Charlie,  etc. 
Break  up  Bible  truths  into  small 
pieces  for  the  children  and  youth. 
Do  not  wander  afar  for  simile,  but 
remember  ' '  knowledge  is  before  him 
that  understandeth,  but  the  eyes  of 
a  fool  are  in  the  ends  of  the  earth." 
8.  Make  full  notes,  write  out  your 
facts  and  references,  etc. :  (a)  Of 
your  best  thoughts,  (h)  Of  your 
best  plan  of  teaching,  (c)  The  aim 
and  object  of  the  lesson  illustrations. 
(d)  Of  the  commencement  and  clos- 
ing of  the  teaching  lesson.  9.  Think 
it  aU  over  so  carefully  and  repeatedly 
that  you  will  scarcely  need  to  look 
at  the  notes  to  the  end.  Select  just 
what  to  teach,  and  do  not  stuff  the 
children.  Memorise  the  lesson,  and 
you   will   have   special    unction  in 


teaching.  10.  Prepare  more,  far 
more,  than  you  will  want  to  use, 
that  you  may  have  ample  material 
for  selections ;  for  no  teacher  can 
impart  aU  that  he  has  prepared  to 
teach,  and  the  teacher  should  be 
careful  never  to  exhaust  himself. — 
Pardee. 


363. 


Begin  early  in  the  week, 


and  thus  keep  the  lesson  before  the 
mind  while  walking  the  streets,  or 
riding  along  the  road,  or  ploughing 
the  field.  Fresh  thoughts  will  thus 
be  developed,  and  the  whole  subject 
will  be  impressed  on  the  mind  with 
the  vividness  of  a  sun-picture. 
First  read  the  lesson  and  its  context 
over  carefully.  Consult,  with  the 
help  of  your  reference  Bible,  the 
parallel  passages.  Make  a  memo- 
randum of  every  one  which  may 
serve  to  illustrate  the  lesson.  A 
memorandum  book  will  be  found 
useful.  Take  each  verse  by  itself, 
and  get  out  of  each  all  you  can. 
After  thus  making  notes  on  each 
verse,  the  ideas  may  be  explained, 
classified,  and  arranged  in  proper 
order.  The  one  great  truth  of  the 
lesson  may  be  set  forth,  and  the 
chief  points  arranged  under  it. 
Note  especially  those  points  in  the 
lesson  which  will  probably  be  the 
hardest  for  the  scholars  to  under- 
stand. Give,  also,  attention  to  all 
allusions  to  ancient  manners  and 
customs,  and  to  Bible  geography  and 
history.  As  to  commentaries,  do  not 
begin  your  lesson  by  consulting  one. 
Do  your  own  thinking  thoroughly 
first,  and  afterward  go  to  authorities. 
Mev.  J.  M.  Freemaii. 


364. 


Take  the  subject  early 


in  the  week.  Think  about  it.  Pray 
over  it.  Let  it  undergo  the  process 
of  incubation,  and  by  the  time  you 
have  brooded  over  it  a  week  it 
will  be  warm  in  your  own  heart,  and 
be  presented  warm,  fresh,  and  glow- 
ing to  your  scholars'  hearts.    Gather 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WORLD. 


115 


illustrations.  Jot  down  incidents  in 
your  note -book — incidents  occurring 
in  the  home  circle,  in  the  street, 
everywhere.  Consider  your  chil- 
dren— their  habits,  characters,  cir- 
cumstances— that  you  may  know 
what  things  will  most  impress  them. 
Adapt  your  teaching — concentrate. 
Take  out  the  one  cardinal  thought  of 
the  lesson,  and  press  it  upon  the 
mind  and  heart.  Study  the  art  of 
questioning,  but  never  take  a  ques- 
tion book  into  the  class.  Close  the 
lesson  with  your  best  and  strongest 
thought.  Keep  the  best  to  the  last. 
In  brief,  get  the  lesson,  imjjart  the 
lesson,  impress  the  lesson. — Rev. 
Henry  C.  3P  Cook,  St.  Louis. 

365.  A  Usefal  Hint. — Occasion- 
ally adopt,  the  week  beforehand, 
a  programme  of  exercises,  which  let 
each  scholar  copy.  Apportion  to  John 
th.eperso7is  of  the  lesson;  to  James, 
the  places;  to  Charles,  the  doctrines; 
to  William,  the  duties ;  to  Samuel, 
the  geographical  peculiarities,  with  a 
simple  outline  map  in  pencil ;  to 
Henry,  a  Bihle  story,  illustrating 
the  lesson  as  a  whole.  A  brief  com- 
position or  two  on  the  lesson  would 
not  be  out  of  place  or  unprofitable. — 
Souse. 

366.  What  a  Teacher  should 
know.^ — Specifically,  then,  the  Bible- 
olass  teacher  should — First.  Devote 
liimself  to  the  study  of  Biblical  criti- 
cism, under  which  are  compre- 
liended  the  facts  of  the  Bible,  its 
history,  chronology,  verbal  mean- 
ings, and  technical  phrases.  Se- 
.cojidly.  He  ought  to  familiarise  him- 
self with  Biblical  literature ;  that  is 
to  say,  he  ought  to  know  the  facts 
.connected  with  the  completion  of  the 
canon  of  Scripture  ;  the  manners  and 
customs  of  the  Jews,  and  of  other 
Oriental  nations,  the  arguments  in 
favour  of  Christianity,  the  inspira- 
tion and  the  doctrines  of  the  Bible. 


Sacred  geography  should  be  studied 
with  reference  to  the  physical  con- 
formation of  Palestine,  peculiarities 
of  its  climate,  seasons,  and  natural 
history.     Thirdly.    The   Bible-class 
teacher  ought  to  understand  some- 
thing  of  ecclesiastical  history.     He 
should  know  the  religious   state  of 
Palestine  when  the  Saviour  appeared, 
understand  the  more  prominent  views 
held  by  existing  sects  and  by  certain 
ancient  divisions  of  the  Church.  He 
ought  to  know  the  peculiarities  of 
doctrine  existing  among  evangelical 
denominations  of  his  own  time,  and 
be  able  to  state  the   differences  in 
unbelief,  as  of  Atheism,  Deism,  Uni- 
tarianism,  etc.,  so  as  to  be  prompt  to 
answer  inquiries   on   such  matters. 
Fourthly.  He  ought  to  be  a  special 
student  of  life  and  of  men,  a  collec- 
tor and  arranger  of  facts  and  inci- 
dents that  will  be  of  perpetual  ser- 
vice in  his  class  exercises.     He  will 
read  some  books  for  the  sake  of  the 
illustrations     they     may     furnish; 
others,  for  the  sake  of  the  intellec- 
tual   quickening    they    may    give ; 
others    still,    for    the   development, 
elucidation,  and  enforcement  of  doc- 
trines, which  he  may  wish  to  intro- 
duce before  his  class. — House. 

367.  Vary  your  Plan  of  Study. 
— Do  not  be  tied  down  to  any  one 
plan  or  method  of  preparing  a  Sab- 
bath lesson,  but  invent  new  and  fresh 
modes.  Never  suffer  any  part  of 
your  preparation  or  teaching  to  re- 
lapse into  dull  routine.  Be  fresh, 
warm,  and  earnest  in  manner  and 
matter,  and  raise  y^ourself  above 
leaning  upon  any  question-books  or 
notes  of  lessons ;  use  them  if  you 
please,  but  do  not  lean  upon  them. 
The  weekly  teachers'  meeting  is  an 
indispensable  assistant  to  every  faith- 
ful teacher.  Never  forget  that  the 
only  sort  of  knowledge  which  can 
answer  a  Sabbath-school  teacher's 
purpose  "  must  be  at  once  thorough, 


116 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WOULD. 


detailed,    abundant,    and  exact." — 
Pardee. 

368.  Use  of  Eyes  in  Preparing. 
— The  teacher  must  ever  wear,  as  a 
French  writer  says,  his  "Sunday- 
school  spectacles,"  and  view  all 
things  thi'ough  a  Sunday  -  school 
medium.  He  must  continually  put 
to  himself  the  question  he  so  often 
proposes  to  his  youthful  pupils, 
''  What  may  be  learned  from  that  ?" 
— Groser. 

369.  Study  youi'  Scholars. — 
George  Herbert  says,  ' '  The  country 
parson's  library  is  a  holy  life,''^  and 
he  found  it  so.  Let  not  the  Sunday- 
school  teacher  forget  that  he  is  a 
library  to  his  class.  They  study 
him,  and  look  more  to  his  manner 
and  life  than  to  his  teaching.  If  he 
is  not  holy,  he  will  not  readily  per- 
suade them  to  be  holy.  He  should, 
therefore,  be  a  commentary  on  his 
teaching.  The  scholars  are  also  a 
library  to  the  teacher :  in  them  he 
may  learn  much  which  will  aid  his 
efforts  for  their  good. — Dr.  Steel. 


370. 


It  is  of  the  first  im- 


portance that  the  teacher  of  children 
should  study  well  child-nature, 
child-language,  and  all  the  child's 
characteristics  —  such  as  activity, 
curiosity,  inquisitiveness,  &c.  ;  what 
are  his  wants  and  cares ;  his  dangers 
and  duties ;  his  hopes  and  fears ;  his 
sympathies  and  feelings,  likes  and 
dislikes.  All  these  must  be  candidly 
considered  if  we  would  prepare  for 
the  position  of  Christian  counsellor 
and  guide  to  the  child.  "We  must 
gain  his  confidence,  draw  out  his 
sympathies,  and  win  his  heart,  and 
all  this  wUl  require  the  most  dili- 
gent, earnest,  prayerful  study.  In 
this  process  the  teacher  must  needs 
often  recall  his  own  childhood,  and 
live  that  over  again — become  as  a 
little  child  again — if  he  would  be- 
come a  child's  teacher.     Do  not  fall 


into  the  error  of  supposing  that  your 
children  are  ever  too  young  or  too 
ignorant  to  appreciate  a  well- pre- 
pared lesson  — Pardee. 

371.  Study  successful  Teachers. 
— Acquaint  yourself  with  the  life 
and  habits  of  successful  teachers. 
"Every  child  for  Jesus,  and  every 
one  wo«f,"  vras  the  motto  of  a  JSTew 
York  lady,  whose  success  was  con- 
stant and  marvellous  in  leading  her 
scholars  to  Christ.  ' '  I  took  every 
one  on  my  heart  to  Jesus.  I  carried 
them  to  my  closet ;  I  told  Jesus  all 
that  I  wanted  of  Him  in  regard  to 
Mary,  and  Emma,  and  Jane,  and  all 
the  rest,  and  He  heard  me  and 
helped  me." — House. 

372.  Eemember  the  end  propOsed.^ 
— You  do  not  come  to  occupy  your 
class  for  thirty  minutes  in  hearing  a 
recitation  from  the  question  book, 
the  catechism,  or  even  the  Bible 
itself.  You  come  to  teach.  Begin 
all  your  jjreparation  ivith  your  own 
heart.  Many  teachers  lay  out  a  good 
plan  of  analysis,  study  up  the  paral- 
lel passages,  look  out  the  references, 
get  together  the  facts,  and  yet  their 
hearts  are  like  icebergs  all  the  while. 
God  has  put  the  windows  of  the  soul 
on  the  heart  side  of  the  body.  You 
must  train  your  heart  toward  God, 
if  you  want  your  intellect  on  God's 
side.  You  may  understand  the  doc- 
trine of  justification  by  faith  through 
two  processes — from  the  study  of  it 
in  God's  "Word,  or  having  been, 
taught  it  out  of  the  catechism,  but 
better  still  by  having  felt  the  pardon 
in  your  own  heart.  This  heart- 
knowledge  is  invaluable  to  you 
throughout  all  your  Bible-teaching. 
It  establishes  the  needed  sympathy 
between  teacher  and  scholar.  Begin 
all  preparation  icith  prayer.  Photo- 
graphers hunt  for  rooms  in  upper 
storeys ;  they  seek  the  sky-lights.. 
Always  have  the  sky-light,  teachers. 
"  Open  Thou  mine  eyes,  that  I  may 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


117 


behold  -^ondrous  things  out  of  Thy 
law."     Never  neglect  prayer.     Get 
■all  the  facts  of  the  lesson.     Seek  to 
he   accui'ate  in  your   knowledge  of 
the  lesson  ;  then  commit  to  memory 
the  words  of  it,  and  get  the  senti- 
ment in  your  heart  and  mind.     Do 
not  go  to  hooks  till  you  have  first 
viewed    and    reviewed    the    lesson 
"without  outside  helps.     Btj  the  hard 
process   of   thinking   draw    out   the 
particular  teachings  of  the  lesson — 
its   doctrines   and  practical  ijoints. 
Isaac  Xewton  said,  "  I  keep  holding 
a  subject  before  me,  and  it  gradually 
opens,  and  I  see  into  it."     Just  here, 
the  Church  owes  much  to  the  Sunday- 
school  in  the    intellectual    activity 
which  it  has  compelled  and  drawn 
forth.     Select  one  great,  central  les- 
ion, and  say  to  youi'self.  That  one 
lesson  I  will  teach.     Do  not  try  to 
teach  too  much.    Concentrate  !  Study 
your  lesson  with  reference  to   your 
scholars.    Have  your  scholars'  names 
on  the  blank  leaf  in  your  Bible,  or 
between  the   Old   and   New   Testa- 
ments, and  open  it  before  you  as  you 
bow  on  your  knees  in  prayer.     Pray 
for  each  scholar  according  as  his  need 
is.     Teach    each    scholar    what    he 
needs  to  know.     Adaptation  is  the 
true  law.     Do  not  give  instruction 
"in  the  lump,"    but  in   "assorted 
lots."     Do  not  do  as  a  zealous  but 
mistaken  tract  distributor  in  an  army 
hospital  did,  who  was  startled  to  hear 
a  peal  of  uproarious  laughter  from  a 
soldier's  cot,  followed  by  the  words, 
"I  have  lost  both  my  legs,  and  you 
have  given  me  a  tract  on  dancing !" 
Prepare  a  plan   of  teaching  before 
you  go  to  your  class.     Allow  your 
scholars  to  talk  and  to  ask  questions, 
but  bring  them  round  to  the  right 
point.     Lead  them  and  control  them. 
JResist  manfully  the  discouragements 
you  meet.     When  you  hear  and  see 
high  standards  set  up,  do  not  turn 
away  from  them  sadly  and  wealdy, 
but  use  what  you  may,  learn  what 


you  can,  practice  what  you  believe 
is  good  and  attainable,  and  you  will 
be  led  higher.  But  know  this,  that 
if  your  heart  is  right,  God  will  guide 
you,  and  your  intellect  will  develop 
ripely  and  richly  under  heart-culture 
while  you  study  God's  Word.  Close 
your  2)reparation  as  you  hegan,  loith 
earnest  p)rayer.  Prayer  beginning, 
prayer  continuing,  prayer  ending ; 
prayer  all  the  way  through  the  pre- 
paration, and  prayer  while  you  are 
teaching  what  you  have  prepared. — 
Rev.  J.  H.  Vincent. 


MAMEE  11^  CLASS. 

373.  Gentleness. — There  is  a 
certain  sharpness  or  severity  on 
the  part  of  some  teachers,  which 
is  a  mistake,  and  is  sure  to  damage 
their  influence  in  the  class.  I  have 
stood  by  the  class,  sometimes  when 
the  teacher  was  not  aware  of  my 
presence,  and  have  seen  him  give  one 
child  a  pull,  another  a  poke,  and  a 
third  a  pat  on  the  head  within  almost 
as  many  seconds :  with  the  constant 
utterance  of  such  expressions  as 
these — "  Do  be  quiet ;"  "  Can't  you 
sit  still  there  ?"  "  Don't  talk  there  ;" 
and  so  on.  This  incessant  restless- 
ness, this  sharp,  feverish  treatment, 
is  unhealthy,  and  is  sure,  more  or  less, 
to  depress  the  minds  of  the  children, 
and  thus  largely  defeat  the  ends  of 
Sunday  -  school  instruction.  When 
the  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph  was  rector 
.of  a  parish,  I  went  with  him  into  a 
school  just  at  a  moment  when  it  was 
in  great  disorder.  On  witnessing 
the  tumult  he  did  not  raise  his  voice, 
but  going  into  the  room  and  looking- 
around  him,  said  in  a  very  distinct 
but  gentle  voice,  "  I  think  one  little 
boy  is  speaking  louder  than  is  neces- 
sary." The  school  was  instantly 
stilled,  for  every  conscience-stricken 
off'ender  applied  the  remonstrance  to 
himself. — Rev.  Dr.  Science. 


118 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WORLD. 


374.  Seriousness. — Seriousness  is 
a  requisite.  This  is  necessary  for  tlie 
proper  effect  of  tlie  exercise.  The  in- 
terest in  the  work  may  lead  the  minds 
of  the  youth  away  from  the  object  of  it. 
Their  desire  to  acquire  information 
and  to  answer  correctly  is  different 
from  the  desire  to  be  seriously  im- 
pressed. An  undevout  teacher  may 
have  a  smart  class,  but  the  impres- 
sion he  leaves  upon  their  minds  is 
not  salutary.  And  the  more  success- 
ful he  is,  the  more  dangerous  does 
he  become.  His  indifference  is  as 
infectious  as  his  intelligence.  Mere 
information  and  mental  culture  the 
children  get  at  the  day-schools.  To 
conduct  your  class  similarly  detracts 
no  less  from  the  sacredness  of  the 
exercise  than  from  the  sanctity  of 
the  day.  It  makes  the  Sabbath- 
school  secular.  It  hardens  rather 
than  melts  the  heart,  and  sometimes 
deadens  the  conscience.  Seriousness 
in  a  teacher  is,  therefore,  vitally  im- 
portant. It  gives  weight  to  what  he 
says.  It  impresses  his  pupils'  minds. 
The  very  manner  of  a  serious  teacher 
is  a  lesson  not  soon  nor  easily  for- 
gotten.-^Dr.  Steel. 


375. 


The  eminence  of  the 


E,ev.  J.  Brown,  of  Haddington,  both 
as  a  preacher  and  writer,  is  well 
known.  On  a  public  occasion,  when 
a  man  who  professed  the  principles 
of  infidelity  was  present,  two  sermons 
were  delivered :  the  first  of  them  by 
an  ambitious  young  man,  who  de- 
livered a  very  eloquent  and  florid 
address ;  Mr.  Brown  followed,  in 
one  equally  remarkable  for  its  sim- 
plicity and  earnestness.  "  The  first 
preacher,"  said  the  sceptic,  to  one  of 
his  friends,  "  spoke  as  if  he  did  not 
believe  what  he  said ;  the  latter, 
as  if  he  was  conscious  that  the  Son  of 
God  stood  at  his  elbow." — Cheever. 

376.  Heartiness. — It  is  difficult 
to  manage  and  instruct  a  class  of  big 
boys;   but  if  the  teacher  get  theii" 


affection  and  can  excite  some  enthu- 
siasm in  their  hearts,  he  may  attach, 
them  to  his  person,  and  secure  their 
interest  in  the  lesson.  Such  a  class 
is  in  a  critical  situation,  and  much 
depends  on  the  energy,  earnestness, 
and  seriousness  of  their  teacher, 
whether  they  are  to  be  preserved  to 
the  religious  community  and  brought 
within  the  pale  of  the  Church.  It  is 
perilous  to  any  teacher's  success  to 
neglect  preparation  and  to  go  through, 
his  lesson  coldly ;  but  it  is  doubly  so 
to  one  who  has  a  class  of  advanced 
boys. — Br.  Steel. 

^n.  Peevishness. — A  complain- 
ing teacher  can  do  no  good.  A  fretful  y 
peevish,  hasty  teacher  can  do  no  good. 
If  a  child  is  rebellious,  let  a  teacher 
remember  what  fighters  against  God 
the  ministry  must  meet;  and  how 
surely  everything  will  be  unavail- 
ing in  them  all  for  a  blessing,  with- 
out a  forbearing,  patient  spirit. 
A  smiling,  genial  habit,  a  cheerful, 
welcoming  countenance, — a  morning- 
face,  radiant  with  joy  in  the  work  of 
the  Lord, — comes  into  the  school  like 
the  sunshine  of  heaven.  It  is  God's- 
own  work,  and  God's  own  mark. — 
Dr.  Tyng. 

378.  Avoid  levity. — Be  careful, 
too,  not  to  wound  the  feelings  of  a 
child  by  smiling  at  his  ignorance  or 
mistakes.  "  The  teacher,"  says  one 
who  has  had  great  experience, 
"  should  have  great  command  over 
his  risibilities.  I  have  often  had 
replies  to  questions  put  to  poor  and 
ignorant  boys  irresistibly Judicrous. 
In  one  instance  there  was  something^ 
so  exceedingly  ludicrous,  that  I  lost 
self-command,  and  laughed  heartily^ 
I  at  once  saw  that  I  had  lowered 
myself  in  the  estimation  of  my  pupils  ; 
I  was  letting  myself  down  to  a  level 
with  them.  I  had  laughed  in  God's 
house,  on  His  day,  and  in  His 
presence,  when  sixty  immortal  souls 
were  influenced  by  my  conduct.     I 


SUXBAY    SCHOOL    WOIiLD. 


119 


Tiave  too  frequently  seen  teachers 
guilty  of  similar  conduct."  No 
cMld  intends  to  give  a  ludicrous 
answer  to  your  question;  and  if  it 
strikes  you  in  that  light,  and  you 
laugh  at  him,  you  injure  his  feelings, 
and  leave  a  sting  which  -will  not 
soon  be  extracted. — Davids. 

379.  Trust  your  Scholars. — Be 
careful,  so  far  as  possible,  not  to  doubt 
the  veracity  and  the  good  intentions 
of  the  chilS..  Nothing  will  so  soon 
check,  and  kill  the  growth  of  confi- 
dence and  love  between  the  child  and 
yourself,  as  imputing  things  to  him 
in  the  name  of  crimes  when  he  is 
innocent.  I  once  knew  a  fatherless 
child  have  his  veracity  doubted  by 
one  who  ought  to  have  known  better. 
All  he  could  say  to  prove  his  inno- 
cence was  turned  against  him,  and 
he  was  treated  as  if  no  proof  of  inno- 
cence would  be  satisfactory.  The 
child  coloured,  sobbed,  and  retired; 
but  ten  thousand  kindnesses,  and  ten 
thousand  good  opinions,  afterwards, 
could  never  erase  the  cruel  wound 
from  his  bosom.  The  affections,  the 
the  love,  the  confidence,  were  never 
regained,  though  probably  the  person 
who  thus  cut  them  away  forgot  it  in 
a  few  months,  if  not  in  a  few  days. 
The  teacher  will  find  his  own  heart  a 
good  instructor  in  this  matter.  Every 
thing  should  be  avoided  which  will 
tend  to  prevent  drawing  each  child 
out  into  familiar  and  frequent  con- 
versations.— Todd. 

380.  Consider  your  Material. — 
It  is  the  same  in  moral  education  as 
in  manual  or  mechanical  labour.  I 
There  must  be  means  employed  for 
the  fulfilment  of  purposes.  The  best 
means  produce  the  best  end ;  but  the 
skilled  workman  is  as  necessary  to 
thatt  high  object  as  the  good  material. 
In  the  Hfe  of  George  Stephenson  there 
is  frequent  complaint  made  of  his  in- 
ability, at  the  outset  of  his  career,  to 
obtain  ' '  efficient  helpers  in  the  shape 


of  skilled  mechanics,  who  could  work 
out  in  a  practical  form  the  ideas  of 
which  his  busy  mind  was  always  so 
prolific"  with  regard  to  the  manu- 
facture of  locomotive  engines.  The 
case  is  similar  in  moral  as  in  mechani- 
cal improvement.  There  must  be 
the  skilled  teacher  to  apply  the  Divine 
purpose  to  the  mind  of  the  child. 
The  circumstances  of  the  scholar  and 
of  the  teacher  must  be  carefully  con- 
sidered ere  the  material  of  instruc- 
tion can  be  made  available  for  edu- 
cation. He  who  is  skilled  can  use 
his  instruments  to  most  advantage, 
and  is  most  likely  to  secure  the  best 
result. — Dr.  Steel. 

381.  Loud  Speaking. — I  had  a 
class  of  rough  boys  who  used  to  make 
a  good  deal  of  noise ;  but  I  did  not 
mind  that.  But  then  I  did  think 
that  the  lady  teacher  in  the  class  next 
to  me  really  had  a  very  loud  voice  ; 
and  I  felt  two  or  three  times  that  I 
would  like  kindly  to  suggest  to  her 
that  she  had  pitched  her  tone  rather 
higher  than  she  was  aware,  perhaps ; 
but  I  could  not  muster  the  courage. 
One  day  the  matter  came  to  a  crisis. 
I  approached  the  lady,  and  she  said 
to  me,  "Mr.  WeUs,  will  you  excuse 
me?"  — "Why,  ah,  certainly!"  I 
said.  "It  is  not  much,  perhaps," 
she  replied,  "only,  Mr.  WeUs,  you 
do  talk  so  lo^^d  in  your  class  that  my 
class  can  scarcely  hear  me,  although 
I  raise  my  voice  higher  than  I  should 
otherwise  do,  that  I  may  be  heard." 
What  a  fall  was  there !  It  was  a 
merited  rebuke.  It  was  one  of  m}' 
earliest  mistakes,  and  that  faithful 
lady  teacher  effectually  cured  me. — 
Ral^jh  WeUs. 

382.  Cheerfnlness. — Childi-en  can 
imderstand,  and  they  do  appreciate, 
untiling,  disinterested  love.  Train 
the  affections,  therefore,  by  perse- 
vering kindness,  and  your  engaging 
manner  will  attract  the  careless,  and 
your  gentle  conduct  wiU  curb  the 


120 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


■unruly ;  train  the  affections,  and  then 
your  kind  determination  will  soften, 
if  it  does  not  subdue,  the  obstinate ; 
and  your  suitable  instructions  will 
restrain,  if  they  do  not  reform,  the 
vicious.  To  train  a  little  child  to  be 
happy  on  the  Lord's  day,  and  thus  to 
associate,  throughout  life,  religious 
instruction  with  happiness  and  peace, 
is  an  obvious  fulfilment  of  the  will 
of  your  Lord  and  Saviour. — Collins. 

383.  Useful  Hints.  — 1.  Speak 
little  and  softly.  2.  Preserve  perfect 
order  in  your  class.  3.  Avoid  un- 
necessary words.  4.  Be  not  over 
quick  to  notice  and  reprove  little 
faults ;  it  irritates  rather  than  mends. 
5.  Stop  or  change  youi*  course  when 
attention  flags,  or  is  maintained  with 
difficulty.  6.  Tui'n  the  eye  of  the 
pupil  inward  upon  himself,  and  teach 
him  how  to  read  his  own  heart.  7. 
Pray  with  and  for  your  pupils. — 
America7i  S.  S.  Scrajj-book.  ** 


METHOD  IE  THE  CLASS. 

384.  Order. — What  the  superin- 
tendent owes  to  the  school,  the  teacher 
owes  to  his  class.  The  superintendent 
is  responsible  for  the  general  order  of 
the  school,  the  teacher  for  the  order 
of  the  class.  This  is  so  plain  that  it 
seems  hardly  to  admit  of  argument. 
Yet  very  many  teachers  practically 
ignore  this  duty  altogether.  They 
•either  cannot  keep  their  classes  in 
order,  or  they  look  upon  it  as  some- 
thing not  "^dthin  the  range  of  their 
duties.  It  is  not  at  aU  uncommon  to 
see  a  class  in  Sabbath-school  acting 
in  a  rude  and  disorderly  manner, 
in  the  immediate  presence  of  their 
teacher,  yet  with  no  more  recognition 
of  the  teacher's  presence  than  if  they 
were  out  in  the  open  fields ;  and 
the  teacher  sitting  composedly  by, 
with  no  attempt  even  to  interfere 
and  feeling  apparently  as  if  an  at_ 


tempt  to  interfere  on  his  part  would 
be  as  much  out  of  place  as  it  would 
be  for  him  to  go  up  to  the  superin- 
tendent's desk  and  ring  the  bell  for 
the  ]furpose  of  closing  school,  or  of 
giving  out  some  general  order. — Dr^ 
Hart. 

385.  Method  in  a  Nutshell.— 
There  are  three  principal  objects  to  be 
ever  kept  inview  by  the  Sunday-school 
teacher,  namely :  1.  The  conversion  of 
the  soul.  2.  Instruction  in  Scripture 
knowledge.  3.  Christian  culture. 
There  are  four  faculties  through 
which  this  work  is  principally  accom- 
plished: 1.  The  understanding — The^ 
attention  must  be  gained,  the  subject 
made  clear,  the  thoughts  of  the  lesson 
rendered  forcible.  2.  The  memory 
— The  subject  must  be  presented  so 
that  it  can  be  retained,  like  things 
grouped  with  like,  facts  with  facts, 
principles  with  principles,  or  the 
principle  with  the  fact  from  which  it 
is  deduced,  things  in  their  natural 
order.  3.  The  conscience — Every 
lesson  should  impress  the  mind  of 
the  pupil  with  a  sense  of  responsi- 
bility, every  lesson  should  be  a  moral 
discipline.  4.  The  heart — No  lesson 
is  complete  that  does  not  go  to  the 
depths  of  the  child's  natui'e,  and 
draw  the  heart  toward  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ. — Rev.  Edivard  Eggleston., 


386.  Vary  Methods. — We  should 
not,  however,  bind  ourselves  to  any 
one  method  of  teaching,  for  there  is 
no  standard  mode  alike  adapted  fo 
difterent  persons  and  lessons.  Most 
of  our  good  teachers  have  wrought 
out  some  way  of  teaching,  in  a  mea- 
sure peculiar  to  themselves  and 
adapted  to  them.  Those  who  can  do 
so,  however,  will  be  able  to  borrow- 
much  of  value  from  GalVs  Lesson 
System,  with  its  thorough  analysis, 
numerous  exercises,  exhaustive  doc- 
trines, and  lessons  of  instruction,  or 
from  Stow^s  Training  System,  with 
its  sympathy  of  numbers,  its  pictur- 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


121 


ing  out  into  life  and  training  whicli 
will  aid  others;  and  3Iim2)nss^ s 
Gospel  Harmony  will  help  many. 
Let  us  ride  no  hobbies,  but  gather 
the  best  suggestions  from  all  for  our 
Sabbath- school  work.  What  we 
want  in  our  Sabbath-schools  is  to 
add  a  sufficiency  of  teaching-power 
— to  give  efficacy  to  our  teaching, 
without  stiffening  it  with  rules  and 
forms.  A  few  years  ago  hymn- 
learning,  catechism,  and  task-lessons 
formed  the  staple  of  even  our  Scrip- 
ture-classes. Now  there  is  a  demand 
for  good  Bible-teaching,  that  will 
equal  the  teaching  of  our  best  acade- 
mies and  colleges.  The  Bible  is  so 
adapted  and  wonderful  as  to  place  us 
on  great  vantage-ground.  We  want 
to  know,  How  to  use  it  ? — Pardee. 

387.  Do  not  get  into  a  stereo- 

typedroutine  method  of  giving  lessons. 
You  will  often,  at  conventions,  hear 
a  good  model  lesson ;  you  will  admire 
its  style  and  its  method;  you  will 
think  it,  perhaps,  the  best  lesson  you 
ever  heard.  But  do  not  suppose  that 
is  a  reason  for  imitating  its  method 
precisely  next  Sunday,  and  for 
casting  all  your  lessons  into  the  same 
mould.  Different  subjects  admit  of 
and  require  great  diversity  of  treat- 
ment.— House, 

388.  The  Combined  Method.— 
This  uses  the  analytical,  the  illus- 
trative, the  blackboard,  the  object, 
or  any  other  method,  or  all,  as  the 
nature  of  the  lesson  may  call.  In 
some  parts  of  the  country  the  schools 
are  supplied  with  slips  or  lesson- 
papers  a  month  in  advance  of  the 
lesson.  On  the  slip  is  a  lesson  for 
each  Sabbath  in  the  month.  Thus, 
for  the  recitations  in  January  the 
lesson-paper,  which  is  in  the  shape 
of  a  four-paged  duodecimo  tract,  is 
issued  and  mailed  in  December.  A 
school  takes  as  many  slips  as  there 
are  officers,  teachers,  and  scholars, 
and    all   are  expected  to  study   at 


home.  Usually  the  lesson  contains 
from  twelve  to  twenty  verses.  There 
is  given,  in  connection  with  the 
lesson,  certain  other  passages,  or  a 
chapter,  cognate  to  the  general  theme, 
which  it  is  expected  the  scholars  and 
teachers  will  consider  their  hoinc 
reading.  There  is  also  radicated  a 
passage  called  the  golden  text,  which 
embodies  the  central  thoughtof  the  les- 
son. Theintermediate  and  Bible  classes 
are  expected  to  memorise  the  golden 
text  of  the  lesson,  and  also  the  entire 
text  of  the  lesson,  unless  it  be  very 
long :  the  infant  class  and  the  super- 
intendent the  golden  text.  Each 
scholar  is  expected  to  analyse  the 
lesson  and  to  give  the  central  thought 
in  his  own  words. — House, 

389.  ITo  Method.— There  are 
various  ways  by  which  teachers  fill  up 
the  time  allotted  to  instruction. 
Some,  after  finishing  the  lesson,  let 
the  scholars  read  out  of  the  Bible, 
taking  verse  about,  with  an  occa- 
sional word  of  explanation  by  the 
teacher.  This  is  certainly  better 
than  sitting  still  and  doing  nothing. 
Any  little  fragment  of  time,  not 
otherwise  occupied,  may  thus  be 
used,  and  sometimes  to  great  advan- 
tage. It  can  never  do  harm,  and  it 
is  an  effectual  stopper  to  the  dread- 
ful evil  of  doing  nothing.  Other 
teachers  fill  up  the  time  by  telling 
the  children  stories.  If  the  teacher 
has  a  special  gift  for  this,  it  may  do 
well  enough  as  an  occasional  thing. 
But  few  persons  have  the  faculty  of 
telling  Bible  stories,  or  any  other 
stories,  well.  Besides,  when  this 
kind  of  matter  is  relied  upon  as  the 
main  staple  for  filling  up  time,  it  be- 
gets an  unhealthy  feeling  among  the 
children,  and  it  is  a  great  temptation 
to  the  teacher  to  fall  into  loose  habits 
concerning  truth.  Still,  there  are 
many  worse  things  in  Sabbath- 
school  than  telling  the  children  good 
stories,   and  I  would   not   entirely 


122 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WOKLD. 


discourage  the  practice,  especially 
among  small  children.  Others,  when 
at  a  loss  for  something  to  do,  read  to 
their  class  out  of  a  hook,  or  out  of  a 
religious  paper.  Even  this,  though 
hetokening  great  poverty  of  invention 
on  the  part  of  the  teacher,  is  better 
than  nothing. — Dr.  Hart. 

390.  Begin  Eight.— With  this 
view  great  care  should  he  taken  to 
begin  a  lesson-  aright.  The  teacher 
should  come  from  communion  with 
God,  and  his  spirit  and  manner 
should  be  at  once  thoughtful,  earnest, 
and  cheerful ;  never  cold,  cheerless, 
indifferent,  or  severe.  Let  him  give 
to  each  scholar  a  warm,  quiet,  but 
hearty  salutation  ;  be  early,  be  calm, 
be  gentle,  be  firm,  and  seriously  in 
earnest ;  never  allow  any  scholar  to 
take  any  undue  liberties  ;  and  see 
that  each  one  and  everythj.ng  is  in 
its  place. — Pardee. 

391.  Seven  Principles. — 1.  Never 
teach  what  you  don't  quite  under- 
stand. 2.  Never  tell  a  child  what 
you  can  make  him  tell  you.  3.  Never 
give  a  piece  of  information  without 
asking  for  it  again.  4.  Never  use  a 
hard  word  if  an  easy  one  will  convey 
your  meaning,  and  never  use  any 
word  at  all  unless  you  are  quite  siu-e 
it  has  a  meaning  to  convey.  5.  Never 
begin  an  address  or  a  lesson  without 
a  clear  view  of  its  end.  6.  Never 
give  an  unnecessary  command,  nor 
one  which  you  do  not  mean  to  see 
obeyed.  7.  Never  permit  any  child 
to  remain  in  the  class,  even  for  a 
minute,  without  something  to  do,  and 
a  motive  for  doing  it.  A  mind  un- 
occupied is  a  mind  in  mischief. — J. 
G.  Fitch,  Esq. 

392.  Needful  Things  in  a  Lesson. 
— Sabbath-school  teaching  should 
combine  at  least — 1.  The  art  of  ask- 
ing questions.  2.  Keeping  order. 
3.  The  art  of  securing  attention,  and 
interesting  the  pupils.    4.  The  draw- 


ing of  practical  lessons  and  applyiag 
them  to  the  daily,  common  life.  We 
shoidd  never  undertake  to  teach  a 
truth  of  which  we  cannot  see  and 
make  plain  its  uses ;  certainly  never 
convey  to  our  children  the  idea  that 
there  is  any  unimportant  portion  of 
revealed  truth.  One  or  two  Bible- 
truths  and  principles  are  generally 
better  than  many. — Pardee. 

393.  Simplicity.  — In  conducting  a 
class,  the  simplest  language  should  he 
employed.  We  are  not  to  expect 
children  to  understand  theological 
terms,  nor  are  they  likely  to  use 
them  in  answering  questions.  If  the 
teacher  use  plain  words  in  conveying 
his  ideas,  they  will  be  radiant  with 
meaning  to  the  scholars  of  his  class. 
He  should  prefer  to  get  their  answers 
in  their  own  words  rather  than  in 
any  other  form.  Their  answers  will 
be  intelligent  in  proportion  to  the 
simplicity  of  their  expressions. — Dr, 
Steel. 


394. 


Take  one  instance  :— 


It  is  very  common,  in  prayer  and  in 
exhortation,  to  speak  of  children's 
giving  their  hearts  to  God.  To  us 
this  is  a  very  plain  and  intelligible 
expression,  and  it  is  Scriptural ;  but 
it  is  a  figurative  expression,  which 
no  child  understands  until  he  has 
learned  and  understood  that  the 
heart  is  put  for  the  affections,  and 
that  to  give  the  affections  to  God 
means  to  exercise  them  in  the  way 
which  He  has  required.  Now,  the 
whole  meaning  of  ' '  giving  the  heart 
to  God  "  is  to  love  God ;  and  this  is  a 
phrase  which  the  child  at*once  com- 
prehends, and  is,  therefore,  better 
adapted  to  him  than  the  other. — 
Packard. 

395. Quintillian,  the  an- 
cient Roman  writer,  remarks  that  our 
meaning  in  words  of  instruction, 
' '  like  the  sun,  should  obtrude  itself 
upon  the  eyes  of  the  ignorant,  not 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WOULD. 


123 


only  witlioiit  any  pains  to  search  for 
it,  but,  as  it  were,  whether  he  will 
or  not."  Dr.  South,  in  one  of  his 
terse  and  weighty  sentences,  said, 
' '  He  is  the  powerfullest  preacher, 
and  the  best  orator,  who  can  make 
himself  best  understood."  Arch- 
bishop Tillotson,  a  prince  of  sacred 
orators  of  his  day,  used  to  read  his 
sermons  to  an  illiterate  old  woman  of 
plain  sense  who  lived  with  him,  and 
if  any  words  were  not  intelligible  to 
her  he  altered  them  before  he 
preached  the  discourse  to  the  congre- 
gation. Baxter  practised  great  sim- 
plicity. The  account  which  he  gives 
of  his  style  is  very  interesting. 
After  enumerating  several  circum- 
stances that  conspired  to  make  his 
style  plain,  he  adds :  "I  think  all 
these  are  partly  causes,  but  I  am 
sure  the  principal  cause  is  a  long 
custom  of  studying  how  to  speak  and 
write  in  the  keenest  manner  to  the 
common,  ignorant,  and  ungodly 
people ;  without  which  keenness  to 
them,  no  sermon  nor  book  does  much 
good,  which  hath  so  habituated  me 
to  it,  that  I  am  falling  into  the  same 
with  others.  .  .  .  And  I  have  a  strong 
natural  inclination  to  speak  of  every 
subject  just  as  it  is,  and  to  call  a 
spade  a  spade,  and  verba  rehus  aptare, 
so  as  that  the  thing  spoken  of  may 
be  fullest  known  by  the  words,  which, 
methinks,  is  part  of  our  speaking 
truly."— Dr.  Steel. 

396. Few  have  been  more 

successful  in  teaching  children  than 
James  Hervey .  ' '  On  such  occasions, ' ' 
says  he,  "I  endeavour'  to  comprehend, 
not  all  that  may  be  said,  but  that 
only  which  may  be  level  to  their 
capacities,  and  is  most  necessary  for 
them  to  know.  The  answer  to  each 
question  I  explain  in  the  most 
familiar  manner  possible,  in  such  a 
manner  as  a  polite  hearer  might 
treat  with  the  most  sovereign  con- 
tempt ;  little  similes  I  use,  that  are  l 


quite  low.  In  every  explanation  I 
would  be  short,  but  repeat  it  again 
and  again ;  tautology  in  this  case  is 
the  true  propriety  of  speaking  to  our 
little  auditors,  and  will  be  better 
than  all  the  graces  of  eloquence." — 
Todd, 

397.  Take  nothing  for  granted. 
— Let  a  teacher  take  nothing  for 
granted  in  the  knowledge  of  children, 
— but  bring  out  the  amount  of  their 
information,  and  the  readiness  of 
their  thought,  by  constant  and 
simple  questions  addressed  thus  to 
each.  To  use  sim]3le  words  is  a  most 
important  requisite  for  deep  and  real 
teaching.  All  extraneous  conversa- 
tion must  be  cut  off,  and  the  attention 
kept  fixed  on  the  one  subject  which 
is  the  appointed  subject  of  study. 
Step  after  step  must  they  go  forward 
in  the  lesson, — with  the  effort  and 
purpose  that  it  shall  be  thoroughly 
understood.  An  hour  will  soon  pass 
in  the  effort  to  make  ten  verses  of 
Scripture  plain  to  a  class  of  little 
ones.  And  the  more  they  understand 
and  are  interested  in  it,  only  the 
more  difficult  it  will  become  to 
restrain  the  association  of  their 
thoughts,  and  to  confine  them  to  the 
actual  line  of  teaching  in  hand. — 
Dr.  Tyng. 

398. Iv'ot  long  ago,  talking 

about  Jordan,  the  children  looked 
mystified  and  bewildered ;  on  asking 
them  what  they  thought  the  Jordan 
was,  one  answered,  "  A  great  town ; " 
and  the  tale,  though  old,  will  bear 
repeating,  of  the  class  who,  after  an 
hour's  lecture  on  the  sixth  of  Joshua, 
on  being  asked  by  a  bystander  what 
Jericho  was,  retuimed  the  answer, 
''Please,  sir,  warn't  it  a  woman?"— 
Davids. 

399. Mr.   Yanderkiste,    ia 

his  stirring  narrative  of  "  Six  Years' 
Mission  in  the  Dens  of  London," 
presents  a  case  where   the  contrast 


G  2 


124 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WORLD. 


I  have  alluded  to  came  out  most 
strongly :  ' '  Visiting  a  sick  man  with 
a  new  missionary,  I  requested  him 
to  read  and  instruct  him,  which  he 
did,  detailing  to  him  our  fallen  con- 
dition, our  need  of  salvation,  and 
the  redemption  purchased  for  us,  in 
a  very  correct  manner,  and  then 
reading  a  portion  of  a  chapter  from 
the  Gospels  in  proof  of  what  he  had 
said.  Thepoorman  listened  with  every 
appearance  of  attention,  and  when 
my  young  friend  said,  '  You  know,' 
or  any  other  interrogative,  he  replied, 
'Certainly,  sir,'  or  'In  course,  sir.' 
My  companion  appeared  pleased  with 
the  man's  attention  to  instruction, 
and  I  thought  it  time  to  undeceive 

him.    '  Mr. ,'  said  I,  '  my  friend 

has  been  taking  much  pains  to  in- 
struct you,  and  now  I  will  ask  you  a 
few  questions.  Do  you  know  who 
Jesus  Christ  was  ?'  *  Well,  no,'  said 
he,  after  a  pause ;  '  I  should  say  that's 
werry  hard  to  tell.'  'Do  you  know 
whether  he  was  St.  John's  brother?' 
'No,  that  I  don't.'  'Can  you  tell 
me  who  the  Trinity  are  ? '  '  IS^o,  sir.' 
'Are  you  a  sinner ?'  'Oh,  certainly, 
sir,  we  are  all  sinners.'  A  pause. 
'  Have  you  ever  done  wrong  ? ' 
*  Why,  no;  I  don't  consider  as  ever 
I  have.'  '  Did  you  ever  commit  sin  ? ' 
'Why,  no,  I  don't  know  that  ever  I 
did.'  '  But  do  you  think  you're 
a  sinner?'  'Oh,  certainly,  sir,  we're 
all  sinners.'  '  What  is  a  sinner  ?' 
'  Wgll,  I'm  Uest  if  I  know  rightly; 
I  never  had  no  head-piece ! '" 

400.  Simultaneons  Teaching. — 
In  conducting  a  class,  simultaneous 
teaching  is  infinitely  preferable  to 
individual.  There  are  some  suffi- 
ciently antiquated  to  persevere  in 
the  latter  mode;  and  if  you  pass 
their  classes,  you  will  find  nine 
staring  about  while  the  tenth  is 
answering  questions.  This  is  a 
mischievous  system,  and  is  happily 
well-nigh  exploded.     Yet,  in  simul- 


taneous teaching  we  would  prefer  an 
individual  answer  to  the  question. 
For  this  end,  if  the  hajids  of  those 
who  know  were  held  out,  one  can  be 
selected  to  express  the  answer. — Dr. 
Steel. 

401.  Drawing  Lessons. — The  art 
of  drawing  lessons  is  much  more 
simple  and  easy,  even  for  children, 
than  most  persons  think.  The  only 
pre-requisites  for  drawing  practical 
lessons  are — 1.  A  knowledge  of  the 
facts.  2.  An  accurate  perception 
whether  they  be  good  or  evil.  If  the 
action  or  precept  be  good,  the  practi- 
cal lesson  is  but  an  echo  of  the  fact ; 
if  evil,  avoid.  Imitate  the  good  and 
shun  the  evil.  For  instance :  Cain 
and  Abel  were  industrious;  from 
which  we  learn  the  duty  to  be  indus- 
trious. Cain  and  Abel  went  up  to 
worship  God ;  from  which  we  learn 
to  copy  their  good  example  in  going 
to  worship  God.  But  Cain  became 
angry  and  slew  his  brother ;  from 
which  we  draw  the  lesson  of  warning 
and  danger. — Pardee. 

402.  Teaching  and  Training. — 
The  teacher  is  the  master  and  supe- 
rior, and  his  character,  attitude, 
bearing,  and  words  should  be  well 
calculated  to  govern  and  guide. 
Teaching  is  not  simply  educating — 
namely,  drawing  out,  nor  simply 
instructing  the  pupil,  but  training 
him.  It  is  taking  my  thought  and 
converting  it  to  his  use. — Pardee. 

403.  Encourage  your  Scholars. 
— In  the  management  of  the  lesson 
the  individual  temperameijt  of  a  class 
should  be  considered.  Sometimes  a 
bashful  young  man  will  timidly 
advance  a  reply,  but  in  a  voice 
scarcely  audible.  Catch  hold  of  it 
and  repeat  it  aloud,  that  all  may 
hear.  Again,  another  may  make  a 
reply  only  in  part  correct,  or  only  in 
part  complete.  At  once  yourself 
complete  the  reply,  and  thus  reassure 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WORLD. 


125 


him  who  makes  it.  Every  member, 
however  humble,  should  be  made  to 
feel  that  he  is  a  coustituent  part  of 
the  class,  and  that  the  teacher  thinlis 
him  so. — House. 

404.  Develop  the  Good.— "Try 
to  discover  what  good  qualities  each 
child  has ;  draw  them  out  and 
strengthen  them.  This  will  give  you 
a  new  and  deeper  interest  in  his  wel- 
fare ;  and  this  interest,  thus  created 
in  your  own  bosom,  will  gain  his  love 
and  confidence.  Many  Sunday-school 
children  abeady  feel  that  their  teacher 
is  by  far  the  best  friend  they  have  on 
earth;  and  the  one  to  whom  they 
would  go  when  the  heart  was  endur- 
ing its  greatest  troubles." — Todd. 

405.  Keep  to  the  Point.—  What- 
ever be  the  subject,  it  should  be 
adhered  to  with  scrupulous  exactness, 
viewed  in  its  various  lights,  and  then 
pressed  home  to  the  heart  by  some 
pointed  practical  lessons.  Let  the 
teacher  thoroughly  know  his  lesson, 
and  endeavour  to  communicate  that 
knowledge  to  his  class.  Thus  his 
work  will  be  interesting  and  profit- 
able. His  great  object  in  teaching  is 
to  impart  saving  knowledge,  and  all 
helps  must  be  subordinated  to  this 
end. — Dr.  Steel. 


406. 


Avoid    prolixity   and 


the  introduction  of  extraneous  matter, 
keep  close  watch  over  the  course  of 
remark,  and  before  the  tenour  of  it 
has  widely  diverged,  strike  in  with 
the  observation,  "  That,  please,  is  not 
the  subject  now  before  the  class;  let 
us  keep  to  the  point." — House. 

407.  Doctrinal  Teaching. — "The 
great  danger  is  from  surfeiting  chil- 
dren with  religious  doctrines  or  over- 
much talk.  Doctrines  they  are  too 
young  to  understand,  and  too  frequent 
talking,  wearies  them.  Many  parents 
err  in  expecting  the  religion  of  a  child 
should  be  the  same  as  their  own.  I 
did  not  give  mine  formal  instruction 


till  they  were  eight  years  old ;  and 
chiefly  set  before  them  the  striking 
facts  in  the  Old  Testament,  or  the 
miracles  in  the  New.  I  also  laboured 
much  to  set  before  them  the  goodness 
of  our  God  in  things  which  they  could 
understand,  such  as  the  comforts 
which  we  enjoyed  together.  "Watch- 
ing providential  occurrences,  I  made 
use  of  them  to  give  a  body  and  sub- 
stance to  spiritual  truth.  One  method 
used  to  afiect  them  much — carrying 
them  to  see  an  afEicted  child  of  God 
rejoicing  in  tribulation,  and  speaking 
of  His  love."— i2ei\  H.  T.  Venn. 


408. 


-"  Strong  meat  belongeth 


to  those  that  are  of  full  age ;  but 
doses  of  divinity — the  hard  questions 
and  high  matters  of  the  faith — are 
not  the  food  convenient  for  the  little 
ones.  The  sheep  can  eat  grass  and 
hay ;  but,  with  its  little  curly  fleece, 
the  lamb  in  April  only  plays  in  the 
green  pasture,  and  does  not  care  to 
eat  the  budding  clover  and  sprouting 
grass,  of  which  it  will  be  glad  enough, 
even  in  the  shape  of  hay,  next  winter. 
]S"or  is  the  shepherd  angry  because 
the  truss  or  the  bundle  which  he 
fetches  from  the  rick  has  no  attraction 
for  the  frolicsome  young  creatures. 
These  bimdles  of  stored-up  theology 
are  for  the  farther  grown ;  but  in  the 
meanwhile  the  simple  story  and  the 
easy  lesson  better  suit  the  opening 
mind." — Dr.  J.  Hamilton. 

409.  Train  the  Conscience. — 
Observe  special  care  in  educating 
the  conscience,  and  afford  discrimi- 
nating rules  on  casuistic  subjects. 
It  is  no  use  to  endeavour  to  avoid 
such  subjects.  Men  and  women 
will  continually  question  you,  in. 
the  midst  of  almost  every  class 
exercise,  as  to  the  propriety  of  such- 
and-such  a  course  of  action.  For 
instance:  "Is  it  wrong  to  frequent 
the  theatre,  the  opera,  the  dance?" 
"  Ought  we  to  sell  articles  which 
virtue  and  morality  condemn ?"  "Is 


126 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WORLD. 


it  right  to  utter  a  falseliood  for  a  good 
purpose?"  ''Wliere  is  the  line 
that  divides  innocent  from  sinful 
amusements  ? ' '  These  questions  must 
be  answered ;  and  the  more  numerous 
they  are  the  better.  The  answers 
afibrd  some  of  the  finest  opportunities 
the  teacher  has  to  impress  his  hearers 
with  a  determination  to  forsake  the 
paths  of  evil  and  to  return  to  God. 
The  more  conscientious  they  can  be 
brought  to  be,  the  greater  reason 
there  is  to  anticipate  a  favourable 
reception  of  Gospel  principles.  Every 
quickening  of  the  conscience  vnR  be 
an  undermining  of  prejudices. — 
House. 

410.  Application. — In  my  early 
teacliing  experience  I  used  to  bring 
all  the  "  application  "  in  at  the  end. 
Have  you  never  noticed,  in  the  mat- 
ter of  sermons  and  speeches,  that 
while  the  speaker  was  in  the  midst 
of  his  descriptions  and  illustrations 
the  hearers  were  deeply  interested, 
but  as  soon  as  the  "application" 
came  the  feet  and  hands  began  to  be 
restless  and  moving  ?  What  was 
the  matter?  0,  the  "application" 
had  been  reached.  And  have  you 
never  heard  a  little  child  say,  as  its 
mother  progressed  in  the  reading  of 
a  story-book  to  the  lesson  which  was 
appended  as  a  moral  at  the  close  of 
each  chapter,  "  0,  mother,  skip  that, 
and  go  on  with  the  story  ?  "  I  have, 
many  times.  Now,  in  your  class, 
teacher,  one  or  two  things  will  almost 
always  happen  if  you  leave  the  ' '  ap- 
plication "  to  the  end  of  the  lesson : 
either  the  superintendent's  rap  on 
the  desk  will  warn  you  to  cease  from 
your  teaching,  or  the  children  T\dll, 
through  habit,  fail  to  give  the  atten- 
tion you  have  thus  far  sustained, 
and  they  will  not  receive  the  "  appli- 
cation." Bring  it  in,  then,  as  you 
go  along,  layer  after  layer,  under- 
laying and  overlaying  all  your  in- 
struction, and  itj  will   do  its  work. 


by  the  Divine  bkssing. — Rahyh 
Wells. 

411.  A  ship-builder  was  once 

asked  what  he  thought  of  Mr.  Whit- 
field. "Think I"  he  replied;  "I 
tell  you,  sir,  every  Sunda}'-  that  I  go 
to  my  parish  church  I  can  build  a 
ship  from  stem  to  stern  under  the 
sermon,  but  were  I  to  save  my  soul, 
under  Mr.  AVhitfield  I  could  not  lay 
a  single  plank." — Cheever. 

412. When    Masillon 

preached  the  first  Advent  sermon  at 
Marseilles,  Louis  XIV.  paid  a  most 
expressive  tribute  to  his  eloquence : 
' '  Father,  when  I  hear  others  preach, 
I  am  very  well  pleased  with  them ; 
when  I  hear  you,  I  am  dissatisfied 
with  myseK." — Cheever. 

413.  Attention. — "  Attention  is 
— 1.  An  act  of  the  et^Y/.  2.  Iti^  the 
one  of  all  the  mental  faculties  which 
is  most  under  our  control.  Therefore 
the  degree  of  attention  we  give  de- 
pends upon  our  disposition,  and  is, 
therefore,  largely  a  matter  of  disci- 
pline ;  and  other  things  being  equal, 
that  teacher  will  gain  the  best  atten- 
tion who  has  most  personal  influence, 
and  who  is  looked  up  to  with  the 
greatest  respect.  3.  Attention  is  a 
habit.  If  truly  given,  every  day  it 
becomes  the  easier.  And  every  day 
we  listen  languidly  to  a  lesson  or 
sermon  the  habit  of  inattention  is 
strengthened. " — Fitch. 

414.  Getting  Attention. — Xow, 
I  will  freely  acknowledge — 1.  That 
attention,  suoh  as  we  want  to  get 
from  children,  is  a  very  difiicult 
thing  for  anybody  to  give.  The  in- 
cidents of  yesterday,  and  the  cares  of 
to-day,  and  business  and  pleasures  of 
to-morrow,  will  divert  and  scatter 
attention.  2.  That  fixed  attention 
to  religious  subjects  is  particularly 
hard  for  any  one,  and  especially  hard 
for  children  to  give ;  but,  hard  as  it 
is,    ice  must   have  it,   and  no   half- 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WORLD. 


127 


hearted,  languid  attention  either,  if 
we  are  to  do  any  real  good  in  tlie 
Sunday-school.  3.  Says  an  old 
writer  to  Sunday-school  teachers : 
*■'■  Let  me  tell  you,  you  will  not  get  it 
by  claiming  it ;  by  demanding  it  as 
a  right ;  or  entreating  it  as  a  favour, 
by  urging  upon  your  pupils  the  im- 
portance of  the  subject,  the  sacredness 
of  the  day,  the  kindness  of  the  teach- 
ers, or  the  great  and  solemn  character 
of  the  truths  which  you  have  to 
impart.  All  these  are  legitimate 
arguments  to  be  used  with  older 
Christians,  but  will  not  do  to  rely 
upon  mth  children.  Nothing  in  the 
long  run — except  fear,  which  is  a 
very  unsatisfactory  motive — can  keep 
a  child's  attention  fixed  but  a  sense 
of  real  interest  in  the  things  which 
you  are  saying.  The  subject  must 
claim  attention  for  itself,  and,  there- 
fore, the  teacher  needs  always  to  be 
accui'ately  prepared  and  well  furnished 
with  correct  knowledge,  parallel  pas- 
sages, illustrations,  facts,  anecdotes, 
definitions  of  hard  words,  allusions, 
poetry,  &c.  In  all  your  teaching, 
forget  not  to  recall  the  fresh  spirit  of 
your  childhood  in  all  its  warmth  and 
earnestness,  remembering  that  he  is 
the  wisest  teacher  who  can  combine 
the  man's  intellect  with  the  child's 
heart." — Pardee, 

415.  You  will  not  get  atten- 
tion by  demanding  it  as  a  right,  or 
by  entreating  it  as  a  favour ;  by 
urging  upon  your  pupils  the  import- 
ance of  the  subject,  the  sacredness  of 
the  day,  the  kindness  of  their  teach- 
ers, or  the  great  and  solemn  character 
of  the  truths  you  have  to  impart. 
Attention,  such  as  alone  can  serve 
the  purpose  of  a  Sunday-school 
teacher,  must  always  be  founded  on 
the  facts  that  you  have  got  something 
to  say  which  is  worth  a  child's  hear- 
ing, and  that  you  can  say  it  in  such 
a  manner  that  he  shall  yee/  it  to  be 
worth  his  hearing.      The  teacher's 


own  mind  must  be  accurately  and 
ahimdantly  prepared  on  the  subject 
which  he  has  to  teach.  He  must 
have  details — facts  which  he  knows 
how  to  state  with  exactness ;  and  a 
degree  of  nicety  and  precision  about 
his  knowledge  far  greater  than  he 
can  ever  hope  to  impart  to  the  chil- 
dren. He  should  store  his  mind 
before-hand,  not  merely  with  what 
he  means  to  impart,  but  with  a  great 
deal  more.  He  does  not  know  what 
topic  may  grow  out  of  the  lesson ;  he 
can  not  tell  what  questions  the  chil- 
dren may  ask,  nor  what  illustrations 
he  may  find  most  eftective.  So  he 
should  provide  himself  at  all  points. 
He  should  look  at  the  lesson  and  into 
the  lesson,  and  all  round  the  lesson, 
before  he  gives  it. — Fitch. 


416. 


A  teacher  is  derelict  in 


his  duty  if  he  does  not  occupy  the 
attention  of  the  class  the  whole  time 
allotted  to  him,  and  in  most  cases, 
upon  the  lesson.  But  they  must 
have  something  before  them,  useful 
and  proper,  all  the  time.  The  very 
least  a  teacher  can  do  is  to  keep  his 
class  busy.  If  he  cannot  or  will  not 
do  this,  he  should  resign. — Dr.  Hart. 

41 7 i  "  He  must  be  a  poor 

instructor,  and  little  competent  to 
accomplish  his  object,  who  cannot 
exercise  young  people's  understand- 
ings, with  such  a  book  as  the  Bible 
to  submit  to  them.  Sure  I  am,  they 
may  be  sooner  interested  in  it  than 
in  any  other  book  in  the  world,  and, 
therefore,  may  more  easily  be  brought 
to  give  a  fixed  attention  to  it." — 
Bather. 

418. Awaken     curiosity. 

Archbishop  Whately  says:  "  Cui'i- 
osity  is  the  parent  of  attention ;  and 
a  teacher  has  no  more  right  to  expect 
success  from  those  who  have  no  curi- 
osity to  learn,  than  a  husbandman 
has  who  sows  a  field  without  plough- 
ing it."       Duly  regard  their  love  of 


128 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WOBLD. 


approbation  by  clierislimg  their  self- 
respect;  and  if  you  would  retain 
attention,  patiently  cultivate  their 
inquisitiveness^  for  it  will  prove  one 
of  the  grateful  rewards  for  your  kind- 
ness. Says  an  old  writer :  ' '  The 
general  occupation  of  infancy  is  to 
inquire.  Education  directs  their  in- 
quiries y  Therefore,  bear  patiently 
with  your  little  ones,  and  answer  all 
their  endless  questionings. 

419.     There     are     others, 

too,  in  more  favourable  circum- 
stances, in  schools  which  have  a 
full  session  of  an  hoiu*  and  a  half, 
who  seem  never  to  have  time 
enough  for  all  that  they  have 
to  say  to  their  class.  There  are 
teachers  who  are  full  of  their  work, 
and  full  of  their  subject,  who  never 
let  a  moment  escape,  after  the  school 
is  opened  and  the  exercises  of  the 
class  begin,  but  go  straight  on 
through  the  hour  or  hour  and  a  half, 
turning  neither  to  the  right  hand 
nor  to  the  left,  and  whom  the  bell 
for  closing  always  finds  in  the  very 
midst  of  active,  animated  work.  I 
have  seen  many  such  teachers. 
Whatever  real  good  is  done  in  the 
cause,  is  done  mainly  by  these. 
There  is  no  difficulty  in  securing 
punctual  attendance,  or  preparation 
of  lessons,  in  the  classes  of  such 
teachers.  Their  classes  are  always 
full,  and  generally  all  are  in  attend- 
ance. The  work  thrives  under  their 
hands.  Knowledge  among  their  pu- 
pils grows  apace. — Dr.  Hart. 

420.  Promptitude.  —  Promjjii- 
tude,  joined  with  the  habit  of  quietly 
obeying  commands,  will  supply  the 
remaining  example.  The  tardy  or 
noisy  obedience  which  characterises 
many  Scripture  classes,  the  vacant 
and  languid  appearance  of  these 
scholars,  in  some  schools,  and  their 
rude  and  boisterous  replies  to  the 
most  solemn  questions,  in  others, 
may  in   general   be   traced   to   the 


neglect  of  this  part  of  Sunday-school 
discipline.  The  advantages  of 
promptitude  in  the  discharge  of  duty 
are  generally  acknowledged  ;  and 
yet  the  cultivation  of  the  habit  in 
youth  is  too  commonly  neglected, 
even  in  Scripture  classes. —  Collins. 


421. 


' '  Strike  the  iron  lohen 


it  is  hot."  It  is  then  soft,  capable 
of  impression  and  form,  which  it 
will  retain  for  ever.  Seize  favourable 
opportunities  for  impression.  When 
the  heart  is  aroused  with  interest, 
and  the  mind  is  anxious  and  solem- 
nised, press  home  the  great  salvation 
—  urge  its  acceptance  —  show  the 
danger  of  delay  and  the  necessity  of 
immediate  acceptance  —  say,  "To- 
day, if  ye  will  hear  his  voice. '^ 
In^T.te  with  tenderness.  Let  your 
affection  show  itself.  Let  the  law 
of  kindness  be  on  your  lips.  Speak 
lovingly,  that  you  may  win  the 
youthful  heart.  Reveal  a  Saviour's 
love — His  arms  stretched  forth  to 
save.  Be  in  earnest.  Travail  in 
bii'th  for  jouv  scholars  until  Christ 
be  formed  in  them.  Make  much  of 
your  opportunity.  Be  pointed,  be 
brief,  lest  interest  fl.ag  and  impression 
die.  A  few  strokes  may  mould  the 
heated  iron — a  few  burning  words 
may  save  a  soul. — Dr.  Steel. 

422.  Keference  Bibles.  —  It  is 
always  pleasing  when,  in  a  Sunday- 
school,  every  teacher  is  seen  with 
his  reference  Bible,  making  his  scho- 
lar turn  from  passage  to  passage,, 
that  the  light  of  the  lively  oracles 
may  break  in  upon  their  minds,  and 
that  they  may  be  comdnced  of  the 
truth  of  a  Scriptural  doctrine.  Such 
a  time  is  most  favourable  for  a  per- 
sonal appeal.  It  was  when  Merle 
d'Aubigne,  then  a  student  at  Geneva^ 
remarked  to  Robert  Haldane,  that  he 
saw  the  depravity  of  human  nature  in 
the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  which  in 
the  original  Greek  they  were  studying 
in  a  class,  that  his  earnest  teacher 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WORLD. 


129 


applied  the  confession  to  his  con- 
science by  asking,  "  Do  you  see  it 
in  your  heart  ?"  Strong  conviction 
seized  the  inquirer,  and  he  became 
a  believer  in  Christ,  a  preacher  of 
the  Gospel,  and  the  world-renowned 
historian  of  the  Eeformation. — Dr. 
Steel. 

423.  Illustrative  Teaching. — 
It  is  of  no  use  denying  the  fact, 
hut  it  may  do  some  good  to  acknow- 
ledge it,  that  the  greater  portion  of 
every  public  instructor's  remarks — 
be  it  from  the  pulpit,  the  lecture- 
room,  or  the  class — is  forgotten  be- 
fore the  dismissal  of  the  audience. 
It  is  an  exception  to  this  rule  when- 
ever an  illustration  accompanies  the 
remark.  The  simile,  the  anecdote, 
or  the  fable,  is  sure  to  be  remem- 
bered ;  and  the  sentiment  to  which 
it  was  linked  is  obliged  to  go  with 
it. — Blacket. 

424. The  popularity  of  great 

preachers  is  likewise  largely  attri- 
butable to  their  powers  of  illustra- 
tion. Latimer,  Whitfield,  and 
Chalmers,  in  former  times,  and  Dr. 
Guthrie  and  Mr.  Spurgeon  in  the 
present  day,  are  remarkable  in- 
stances.— Groser. 


425. 


It  has  an  illuminating 


as  well  as  a  decorative  power.  An 
illustration,  as  the  term  itself  im- 
plies, throws  light  on  truth,  and 
aids  in  the  removal  of  obscni-ities. — 
Groser. 

426 . To  illustrate  is  to  throw 

light  upon,  to  illumine,  to  make 
clear  and  plain.  Illustration  has, 
also,  a  decorating  power  as  well  as 
an  enlightening  power.  Illustrative 
teaching  is  not  merely  entertaining 
or  amusing  the  children  with  stories 
and  anecdotes,  though  it  may  com- 
prise them  incidentally.  Explana- 
tion appeals  to  the  understanding, 
while  illustration  appeals  to  the 
observation    of   the    young.      Says 


one  writer :  ' '  It  is  by  illustration 
alone,  which  appeals  to  their  obser- 
vation, that  ideas  are  conveyed  to 
children's  minds."  Anecdotes  and 
stories  are  generally  too  long  for 
Sunday-school  teaching,  and  the 
danger  is  that  they  will  overshadow 
the  truth.  Illustrative  teaching 
should  be  employed  in  the  Sabbath- 
school  to  make  Divine  truth  glow 
and  become  plainer,  clearer,  and 
better  understood — notliing  else.  It 
must  never  displace  the  lesson,  but 
be  held  in  strict  subordination  to  it. 
Illustrations  of  Divine  truths  are 
very  useful — in  fact,  indispensable ; 
they  are  dangerous,  however,  unless 
well  guarded,  so  as  never  to  with- 
draw attention  from  the  Bible. — 
Pardee. 


427. 


Of    Latimer   it    has 


been  said  :  "He  owed  not  a  little 
of  his  power  to  the  use  he  made 
of  anecdote  and  incident.  He  was 
like  a  master,  converting  the 
Scriptures  themselves  into  a  pic- 
torial story-book  for  his  chil- 
dren, and  studying  it  with  them. 
Sometimes  his  preaching  consisted 
very  much  in  personal  recollections 
and  experiences,  with  accounts  of 
the  dealings  of  God  with  individual 
consciences  ;  so  that  some  of  the 
most  interesting  notices  of  the  Eng- 
lish Eeformation  are  now  to  be 
derived  from  his  sermons." — Groser. 

428.  Pictorial  Power.  —  Word- 
painting  by  the  aid  of  the  imagina- 
tion and  ample  details ;  the  power  of 
describing  scenes  and  incidents,  so 
as  to  appear  real  to  the  child's 
imagination,  will  assist  you  in  gain- 
ing his  attention.  If  you  wiU  dwell 
on  all  the  little  details  of  a  fact 
clearly,  you  will  be  graphic  in  pic- 
turing it'  out  in  words  ;  and  without 
these  details,  the  teacher  may  some- 
times be  very  graphic  with  children, 
even  in  the  simple  act  of  reading 
with    suitable    emotions,    emphasisj 


130 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WOKLD. 


and  actions.  Said  a  little  girl:  "  Oh, 
father,  Mr.  F.,  the  minister,  read 
the  21st  chapter  of  Eevelation  in 
church  to-day,  and  it  was  just  as  if 
he  had  taken  a  pencil  and  paper  and 
pictured  it  right  out  before  us."  It 
is  St.  John's  elegant  description  of  the 
Holy  City. — Pardee. 


429. 


The  best  teachers  are 


always  those  who,  in  addition  to  a 
knowledge  of  their  subject,  and  the 
other  qualifications  which  are  neces- 
sary, possess  also  what  may  be  called 
pictorial  poicer.  By  this  we  mean 
the  power  of  describing  scenes  and 
incidents  so  that  they  shall  appear 
to  a  child's  imagination  as  if  they 
were  really  present  to  him.  The 
imagination  is  a  yery  actiye  faculty 
in  a  child.  It  is "  deyeloped  far 
earlier,  in  the  life  of  all  of  us,  than 
the  judgment  and  those  reasoning 
powers  which  we  are  generally  so 
anxious  to  cultiyate.  Kow,  how 
many  of  us  are  there  who  can  tell  a 
story  well,  or  who  can  so  describe  a 
thing  which  we  haye  seen  that  those 
who  hear  our  description  shall  think 
they  can  almost  see  it  too  ?  Yet  a 
man  is  neyer  a  perfect  teacher  till  he 
can  do  this ;  and  no  appeals  to  the 
reason  and  the  conscience,  and  the 
feelings  of  a  child,  will  be  so  efiec- 
tiye  as  they  might  be  unless  we  can 
also  appeal  to  his  imagination.  Need 
we  remind  you  how  constantly  this 
is  recognised  in  the  Word  of  God ; 
how  continually  the  Bible  wi-iters, 
and  especially  the  Great  Teacher 
Himself,  condescended  to  the  weak- 
ness of  man  in  this  respect,  and 
addressed  their  teachings  not  to  the 
understanding  directly,  but  indi- 
rectly, through  the  medium  of  the 
senses  and  the  imagination  ?  What 
else  is  the  meaning  of  our  Lord's 
parables?  What  else  are  those 
glowing  Eastern  metaphors,  spark- 
ling like  rich  gems  oyer  the  whole 
surface   of  the  Bible,  but  helps  to 


comprehension  of  great  truths,  opti- 
cal instruments,  so  to  speak,  through 
which  our  dim  eyes  might  behold 
doctrines  and  principles,  and  deep 
lessons,  which  otherwise  they  could 
not  have  perceiyed  ? — House. 


430. 


The  late  Dr.  Lathrop, 


of  West  Springfield,  Mass.,  related 
to  Mr.  Whitfield  a  fact  which  the 
Doctor  had  personally  witnessed ;  and 
he  related  it  without  much  feeling. 
The  same  day  Mr.  Whitfield  intro- 
duced the  story  into  his  sermon,  and 
Dr.  Lathrop,  as  he  heard  it,  found 
himself  drowned  in  tsars. —  Cheever, 

431.  Prosiness. — On  the  other 
hand,  it  is  chiefly  the  absence  of 
illustration  which  renders  a  style 
heayy  and  uninteresting,  and  im- 
parts that  peculiar  but  well-linown 
quality  denominated  ^'  jJrosiness.^^ 
"  His  matter  is  extremely  good,"' 
we  frequently  hear  it  said,  "but, 
oh  !  he  is  so  prosy."  This  prosi- 
ness will  be  found  to  arise  from  the- 
partial  or  entire  absence  of  illustra-' 
tiye  matter. —  Groser. 

432.  Power  of  Illustrative. 
Teaching. — But  whence,  it  may 
well  be  asked,  does  this  attractive 
power  of  illustration  arise  ?  Where 
lies  the  secret  of  its  influence?  It 
is  based,  we  reply,  upon  two  simple 
principles,  familiar  to  all  who  have 
studied  the  faculties  and  dispositions 
of  the  human  mind.  Stated  in  their 
simplest  form,  they  amount  to  this ; 
first,  that,  to  an  ordinary  mindy 
truth  in  an  abstract  or  general  fo7'm 
is  distasteful,  hut  in  a  concrete  or 
jmrticular  form,  agreeable  ;  and, 
secondly,  that  the  mind  delights  in 
analogies. —  Groser. 

433.  Source  of  Illustration. — 
Where  and  from  what  shall  Sun- 
day-school teachers  gather  illustra- 
tions for  use?  I  reply,  generally,, 
Everywhere,  and  from  everything; 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WORLD. 


131 


"but  to  particularise :  1.  From  the 
liome  -  surroundings,  circumstances, 
and  home-life  of  the  pupils.  2. 
Facts  and  incidents  that  are  con- 
stantly occurring  around  us.  ^^ Facts 
are  the  arguments  of  God,"  said 
Eev.  Dr.  Chalmers.  3.  History, 
biography,  and  geography — sacred 
and  profane.  4.  Agriculture,  hor- 
ticulture, and  botany.  5.  Proverbs, 
maxims,  wise  sayings,  and  poetry. 
6.  Emblems,  similes,  metaphors, 
-etc.  7.  Science  and  art;  manners 
and  customs. — Tardee. 

434, The  wise   sayings   of 

distinguished  men  are  also  valuable. 
Take,  for  instance,  the  following  : — 
*'  Do  not  think,"  the  teacher  may 
say,  "  that  religion  is  a  thing  of 
gloom.  It  was  a  iine  remark  of  the 
great  composer  Haydn,  when  asked 
why  his  church  music  was  so  cheer- 
ful,— '  I  cannot  make  it  otherwise  ; 
I  write  according  to  the  thoughts  I 
feel.  When  I  think  upon  God  my 
heart  is  so  full  of  joy,  that  the  notes 
dance  and  leap,  as  it  were,  from  my 
pen.'" — Groser. 

435.  Distribution  of  Illustration. 
— Illustrations  sJiould  be  judiciously 
distributed. — By  this  we  mean  that 
they  should  not  be  crowded  together 
in  any  one  part  of  the  lesson.  We 
have  abeady  alluded  to  the  effect 
which  a  story  told  at  the  end  of  the 
nsual  exercises  has  upon  the  atten- 
tion of  a  class.  The  same  evil  will 
result  if  illustrations  be  lavished 
npon  one  part  of  the  subject  to  the 
neglect  of  the  remainder.  It  will  be 
advisable,  therefore,  for  the  teacher 
to  make  a  suitable  arrangement  of 
his  illustrations  when  preparing  for 
Ms  class,  and  to  allot  to»  each  por- 
tion of  the  lesson  its  share  of  illus- 
trative matter.  The  best  mode  of 
making  that  allotment  will  form  the 
next  subject  of  inquiry.—  Groser. 

436.  Too  much  Illustration, — 
6ome  care  is  therefore  needed  to  pre- 


vent the  illustration  eclipsing  the 
doctrine,  and  thus  becoming  a  hin- 
drance rather  than  a  help  to  the 
teacher.  An  illustration,  to  be  effec- 
tive, should  be  short,  dmple^  obvious, 
and  appro2Jriate. — Groser. 

437.  Example  of  Illustration. — 

After  characterising  the  ''Essays" 
of  the  lamented  historian  as  ' '  the 
most  perfect  specimens  of  artistic 
skill  which  our  language  contains," 
the  Doctor  added,  "  Rightly  to  study 
them  is  really  to  learn  the  secret  of 
their  success.  If  I  could  do  for  a 
Sunday-school  what  Macaulay  has 
done  for  the  wide  world,  I  should 
become  as  effective  as  he ;  and  though 
the  rules  of  his  art  are  not  at  first 
apparent,  there  are  rules,  and  my 
business  is  to  get  at  them,  and  to 
turn  them  to  my  own  piu^poses.  You 
notice,  for  example,  in  his  para- 
graphs, he  scarcely  ever  states  a 
truth  in  an  abstract  form ;  or  if  he 
does,  it  is  but  once,  and  the  abstract 
statement  is  beset  all  round  with 
endless  illusirations.  Everything  is 
concrete,  individualised,  personal. 
He  never  speaks,  for  example,  of  the 
practice  of  the  Puritans  in  adhering 
so  closely  to  the  Scriptural  names, 
without  saying  that  they  called  their 
children  Ephraim  or  Manasseh.  In 
other  words,  he  does  not  mark  the 
practice  abstractedly,  but  illustrates 
it  by  particular  cases." — Angus. 

438.  Catechising. — A  severe  test 
comes  upon  the  teacher  in  the  recita- 
tion and  catechising  upon  the  lesson. 
He  is  to  remember:  1.  To  draw  all 
the  information  that  he  can  from  the 
class;  2.  To  induce  the  class  to  find 
out  all  they  can  for  themselves ;  3. 
To  give  such  information  as  is  iDCst 
for  the  class,  but,  before  giving  any 
information,  be  sure  that  no  member 
of  the  class  can  give  it. — Pardee. 

439.  —  Of  course,  you  should 

allot  a  portion  of  time  to  the  work  of 


132 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WORLD. 


catechising.  The  experience  of  all 
ages  bears  testimony  to  the  utility  of 
this  plan.  If  well  improved,  ^  it 
affords  a  most  favourable  opportunity 
for  communicating  religious  know- 
ledge. To  accomplish  this  end  it  is 
necessary  that  you  should  do  more 
than  simply  ask  the  questions,  and 
receive  the  answers  as  they  are 
ranged  in  the  book.  To  arrest  and 
engage  the  minds  of  children,  who 
consider  it  generally  as  nothing  more 
than  a  school  exercise,  you  must 
descend  to  familiar  explanatioji. — J. 
A.  James. 


440. 


The  catechetical  me- 


thod, or  the  method  of  teaching  by 
questioning,  is  the  most  common, 
perhaps,  of  all.  It  tells  as  little  as 
possible  to  the  scholar.  It  insinuates 
information  by  indirect  and  tortuous 
entrance ;  so  that  the  information  is 
caught  and  entangled,  so  to  speak, 
with  what  is  already  there,  and  is 
thus  prevented  from  slipping  _  out 
again,  as  it  would  through  a  direct 
passage.  Sometimes  the  entire  lesson 
is  first  read  over  by  the  class,  and 
the  teacher  catechises  the  scholars 
individually  or  in  concert.  Some- 
times a  verse  is  read,  and  the  pupil 
reading  is  questioned  as  to  its  mean- 
ing, or  the  pupil  in  turn  questions 
the  teacher. — House. 

441.  Art  of  Questioning.  — 
Bo  not  tell  much  in  your  questions. 
Contrive  to  educe  every  fact  from  the 
class.  It  is  better  to  pause  for  a  mo- 
ment, and  to  put  one  or  two  subordi- 
nate questions,  with  aview  to  bring  out 
the  truth  you  are  seeking,  than  to  tell 
anything  which  the  scholars  could 
tell  you.  Never  convey  information 
in  the  form  of  a  question.  We  may, 
for  instance,  want  to  bring  out  the 
fact  that  Jerusalem  is  the  chief  city 
in  the  Holy  Land.  Now  suppose  we 
do  it  thus:  "What  is  the  chief  city 
in  the  Holy  Land?"  "Jerusalem." 
"In  what  country  is  Jerusalem  the 


chief  city?"  "The  Holy  Land." 
Here  each  question  carries  with  it 
the  answer  to  the  other,  and  the 
consequence  is  that  they  test  little 
or  nothing,  and  serve  scarcely  any 
useful  purpose. — Fitch, 

442.  Eecapitulation. —  Questions 
of  recapitulation  or  review.  In  this 
way  you  ascertain  whether  your 
lessons  are  received,  for  the  test  is 
their  telling  it  back  to  you  in  their 
own  language.  You  question  the 
lesson  into  the  minds  of  the  scholars, 
and  then  question  it  out  again. 
Herbert,  in  his  "Country  Parson," 
gives  us  an  illustration.  After 
asking,  * '  Since  man  is  so  miserable, 
what  is  to  be  done?"  and  the  ans- 
werer could  not  teU;  instead  of 
telling  him,  he  properly  asked  the 
following  simple  question,  "What 
would  he  do  if  he  were  in  a  ditch  ?" 
This  familiar  illustration  made  the 
answer  so  plain  that  he  was  even 
ashamed  of  his  own  ignorance;  for 
he  could  but  say,  "  He  would  make 
haste  out  of  it  as  fast  as  he  could." 
Then  he  proceeded  to  ask  whether  he 
could  get  out  of  the  ditch  alone,  or 
whether  he  needed  a  helper,  and  who 
was  that  helper  ? — Pardee. 

443.  Eules  for  Eeviewing. — 
Three  practical  rules  will  embrace 
the  most  useful  forms  of  reviewing : 
1.  Begin  each  recitation  with  the 
review  of  the  preceding  lesson ;  2. 
As  soon  as  the  class  has  advanced 
five  or  six  lessons,  begin  a  review 
from  the  beginning,  taking  one  or 
two  lessons  only  for  each  time;  3. 
Let  the  teacher  hold  in  mind  as 
much  as  possible  of  the  whole  ground 
gone  over,  and,  as  occasion  offers, 
make  an  impromptu,  miscellaneous 
review,  without  closely  following  the 
order  of  the  lessons.  These  reviews 
may  sometimes  embrace  only  the 
heads  or  chief  topics  of  each  lesson. 
In  many  of  the  Sunday  schools  a 
review  is  never  thought  of.      The 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


133 


any 
-tlie 


lessons  are  learned  and  lost  in  quick 
succession,  and  the  year  ends  as  it 
begins,  with  scarcely  any  advance  in 
real  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures. — 
J.  31.  Gregory,  LL.D. 

444.  Advantage  of  EeYiewing. — 
I  wish  to  send  a  despatch  to  Mobile. 
I  hand  it  to  the  operator,  and  ask, 
''How  much?"  "Four  dollars." 
''  Will  that  make  it  sure ?"  ''Not 
absolutely;  we  can  repeat  it  for  two 
dollars  additional,  and  make  it  so." 
The  words  are,  "Not  good  for 
amount."  Click,  click,  click- 
despatch  is  gone.  The  operator  in 
New  York,  whence  I  despatch,  asks 
his  friend  in  Mobile  to  repeat  or  send 
back  the  message.  Back  it  comes, 
reading,  as  I  wrote  it,  "Not  good 
for  any  amount;"  all  right.  I  pay 
my  six  dollars.  If  it  had  not  been 
repeated  it  might  have  read,  "Note 
good  for  any  amount,"  and  the 
change  of  the  one  little  letter  would 
have  made  me  infinite  trouble.  By 
recalling  and  repeating  I  know  it  is 
all  right.  Becall  and  repeat  with 
your  pupil,  and  know  that  he  knows 
that  all  that  is  right.  —  Rev.  J.  II. 
Vincent. 

445.  How  to  Eeview. —  Review 
the  lesson  of  last  Sabbath,  occupying 
not  over  two  or  three  minutes.  A 
lesson  forgotten  is  a  lesson  lost;  a 
lesson  recalled  by  each  scholar  is 
a  lesson  retained, 
of  the  lesson  by 
pupil  through  the 
The  complaint  is  widely  made  that 
the  Sunday-school  is  ineificient,  and 
must  so  remain,  because  it  devotes 
but  one  hour  out  of  every  seven 
days  to  instruction.  If  your  scholars 
study  their  lesson  with  their  parents 
at  home,  this  objection  may  be 
silenced.  The  establishment  of  the 
habit  may  cost  time  and  pains. 
The  parents  may  show  no  dis- 
position to  co-operate.  Visit  them, 
and  place  the  subject  in  such  a  light 


Urge  the  study 
each  individual 
week   at  home. 


that  you  shall  have  the  help  of  either 
the  father  or  the  mother,  or  the  older 
brother  or  sister,  in  the  study  of  the 
lesson. — House. 

446.  Eecapitulation  and  Attention. 
— Eecapitulation  is  very  important  to 
gain  the  attention.  The  scholar  must 
give  attention  to  be  prepared  for  the 
expected  review.  Therefore  always 
ask  in  detail,  in  order  to  see  that 
all  is  understood.  No  child  or  man 
ever  takes  pains  to  grasp  a  subject, 
so  as  to  fasten  it  in  his  memory, 
unless  he  expects  to  be  called  upon 
for  it,  or  in  some  way  to  find  use  for 
it  hereafter.  We  cannot  retain  in 
our  minds  isolated  or  abstract  know- 
ledge. Todd  beautifully  says :  ' '  Ask 
a  child  if  he  knows  what  whiteness 
is,  and  he  will  tell  you  no ;  ask  him 
if  he  knows  what  a  white  wall  or 
white  paper  is,  and  he  knows  at  once. 
Ask  him  if  he  knows  what  hardness 
is,  and  he  will  only  stare  at  you  ; 
but  ask  him  if  he  knows  what  a  hard 
wall,  or  hard  hand,  or  hard  apple  is, 
and  he  will  tell  you  at  once."  Connect 
the  lesson  with  previous  knowledge, 
and  take  care  to  sustain  attention 
with  abundant  resources,  for  if  it  is 
once  lost,  it  is  a  very  difficult  thing 
to  regain  it  on  the  same  lesson. — 
Pardee. 


447. 


It 


will  be  found  an 
excellent  method  to  explain  one 
Sabbath  what  is  to  be  committed  to 
memory  during  the  week,  and  re- 
peated as  a  task  the  next.  As  we 
always  learn  with  greater  ease  and 
pleasure  what  we  understand,  this 
would  facilitate  the  business  of 
memory,  and  prepare  them  for  ex- 
amination, which  should  always  take 
place  when  called  upon  to  repeat 
the  answers  which  had  been  pre- 
viously explained. — /.  A.  James. 


448.  — 
find  proofs 


The    children    would 
the  week ;    and 


during 
each,  in  turn,  should  read  one,  uatil 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WORLD. 


all  have  been  gone  througli ;  but  no 
passage  should  be  read  a  second  time. 
Do  not  accept  indifferent  proofs ;  a 
bad  proof  is  no  proof  at  all.  Make 
them  show  in  what  way  the  passages 
they  bring  really  prove  the  subject ; 
and  always  have  some  of  the  best 
proofs  in  reserve ;  that  when  the 
scholars  have  read  all  they  have 
found,  you  may  turn  to  yours,  if  not 
previously  mentioned.  Make  suit- 
able, pithy,  explanatory  remarks  on 
the  passages  as  read,  with  a  question 
now  and  then ;  or  else  the  interest 
will  droop.  Mere  reading  will  soon 
degenerate  into  a  mechanical  exercise. 
— Davids. 

449.  Questioning. — The  teacher 
should  question  the  lesson  out  of  the 
pupils,  and  then  question  it  into 
them.  He  will  first  get  the  icorcls 
of  the  lesson  clearly  into  the  minds 
of  the  scholars — mostly  by  catechis- 
ing— and  then  the  meaning  and 
illustration  of  the  principal  words. 
Next  the  lessons  of  instruction  must 
be  carefully  drawn,  and,  lastly, 
apjjiied  to  the  heart  and  life  of  all. — 
Pardee. 

450.  Question  Books. — I  have 
published  a  great  many  question 
books,  and  have  made  several  myself, 
but  between  an  intelligent  teacher  and 
a  bright  class,  am/  question  book  is  as 
out  of  place  as  an  iceberg  between  two 
lovers. — Frederick  Packard.  Ques- 
tion books  are  like  dogs ;  they  should 
be  left  at  home,  not  brought  to  the 

i    Sabbath-school. — J.  H.  Vincent. 

451.  Catechising. — <'It  is  chiefly 
by  questions  judiciously  put  to  a 
child  before  you  give  him  a  lesson 
that  you  wiU  be  able  to  kindle  this 
curiosity,  to  make  him  feel  the  need 
of  youLT  instruction,  and  bring  his 
intellect  into  a  wakeful  and  teachable 
condition.  Whatever  you  may  have 
to  give  in  the  way  of  new  knowledge 
will  then  have  a  far  better  chance 


of   being   understood    and    remem- 
bered."—  Groser. 


452. 


Mr.    Charles    availed 


himself  of  every  opportunity  to  en- 
courage them.  He  had  a  peculiar 
talent  for  examining  and  catechising 
the  children.  He  possessed  in  a  high 
degree  that  tenderness  and  sympathy 
for  them  which  were  so  conspicuous 
in  our  Saviour.  His  familiarity  took 
away  every  restraint.  His  conde- 
scension and  kindness  engaged  their 
tenderest  feelings.  He  never  seemed 
to  enjoy  himself  so  much  as  when  he 
was  surrounded  by  children ;  and 
they  loved  him  as  he  loved  them. — 
Watson. 


453. 


Peaso7i   vpicards.  — 


State  the  simplest  truths  first,  and 
advance  only  as  you  take  the  scholar 
with  you.  This  process  may  be  slow, 
but  it  is  a  secret  of  adaptation  which 
the  wise  will  cultivate.  In  the  fable 
the  tortoise  oiitstripped  the  hare.  To 
reason  with  a  child,  or  any  compara- 
tively ignorant  person,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  imparting  instruction,  the 
truth  must  be  delivered  in  a  compre- 
hensible way.  Few  are  willing  to  con- 
fess ignorance.  Most  make  general 
acknowledgments  of  intelligence. 
The  only  means  for  thorough  and 
intelligent  education  of  youthful 
minds  is  by  patient  and  laborious 
catecliising.  By  continuous  dis- 
course you  cannot  impart  so  much 
instruction  as  by  catechising.  You 
may  probablj''  disclose  more  of  your 
own  information  by  the  former,  but 
you  secure  more  to  the  scholar  by 
the  other. — Dr.  Steel. 


454. 


Others,    if    they    are 


questioning  with  freedom,  yield  to 
the  habit  of  propounding  leading 
questions.  A  leading  question  is  one 
that  embodies  an  answer  to  itself. 
Thus,  "Moses  was  the  lawgiver  of 
the  children  of  Israel,  was  he  not  ?" 
"Yes."     "Your  name  is  William 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WOELD. 


135 


Smith,  is  it  not  ?"  "  Yes,  sir,  it  is." 
At  a  school  where  a  general  review 
was  going  on,  we  once  observed  that 
over  one-half  of  the  questions  put  by 
the  superintendent  were  leading 
questions. — Fitch. 


455. 


Dr.  Arnold,  of  Rugby, 


was  one  of  the  most  successful  edu- 
cationists of  modern  times.  He  had 
constantly  several  hundred  boys 
under  his  care.  Dr.  Stanley,  his 
biographer,  informs  us  that  ' '  his 
whole  method  was  founded  on  the 
principle  of  awakening  the  intellect 
of  every  individual  boy.  Hence  it 
icas  his  pi'cictice  to  teach  hy  question- 
ing.''''— Dr.  Steel. 

456.  There  is  a  difference 

between  teaching  and  preaching. 
Sermons  are  out  of  place  in  a  Sun- 
day-school. The  catechetical  mode 
is  decidedly  the  most  effective  to 
maintain  attention,  elicit  intelligence, 
convey  information,  and,  most  of  all, 
to  apply  the  instructions  to  the  heart." 
Bridges''  Christian  3Ii}iistrg,  p.  404. 
''This  practice  exceeds  even  sermons 
in  teaching ;  but  there  are  two  things 
in  sermons,  the  one  informing,  the 
other  inflaming ;  as  sermons  come 
short  of  questions  in  the  one,  so  they 
far  exceed  them  in  the  other." — 
Herbert's  Coimtry  Parson,  chap, 
xxi.  Dr.  Owen  remarks:  "More 
knowledge  is  ordinarily  diffused, 
especially  among  the  young  and 
ignorant,  by  one  hoiu^'s  catechetical 
exercise,  than  by  many  hours'  con- 
tinued discoiu-se."  Baxter  was  so 
anxious  about  the  catechising  of  the 
people  of  England,  that  he  pressed 
upon  the  Members  of  Parliament  in 
his  day  the  duty  of  settling  catechists 
in  each  congregation  as  lay  helpers 
to  the  ministers.  Bishop  Hall  said  : 
' '  No  one  thing  I  regret  so  much  as 
not  having  given  more  time  to  the 
public  exercises  of  catechising." 
Doddridge  thus  lamented :  "  Oh ! 
could  I  spend  more  of  my  time  in 


catechising  children !  "  Mr.  Brown, 
of  Haddington,  said :  "  I  lament  that 
I  have  not  been  more  diligent  in  cate- 
chising and  exhorting  the  children 
in  my  congregation." 

457.  Catechisms. —  In  many 
schools,  the  use  of  all  printed  cate- 
chisms has  been  abandoned;  in 
others,  restrictions  have  been  imposed 
as  to  their  number  and  character. 
Ministers,  churches,  and  teachers, 
have  alike  been  absorbed  with  search- 
ing for  their  demerits,  either  real  or 
imaginary.  Deeply  has  the  subject 
interested  us,  and  for  many  years 
have  we  been  trying  practical  ex- 
periments MT.th  all  sorts  of  catechisms, 
on  all  kinds  of  teachers  and  classes. 
The  result  of  our  experiments  is  de- 
cidedly in  favour  of  the  old-fashioned 
mode.  Let  catechisms  be  still  used 
in  our  schools. — Davids, 


THE  TEAOHEE  VISITIM. 

458.  Visitation  of  Scholars. — I 
have  one  teacher  in  my  mind  who, 
perhaps  twenty  years  ago,  commenced 
her  teaching  with  a  class  of  girls. 
She  brought  them  round  her  in  an 
infant  class  ;  she  laboured  to  reach 
the  hearts  of  these  children,  and  with 
success.  She  followed  them  from 
year  to  year,  having  them  under  her 
eye,  as  it  were,  for  fifteen  years,  and 
during  that  time  some  of  the  class 
passed  away  to  a  better  clime ;  but 
always,  when  there  was  anything  the 
matter  with  these  children,  the  first 
who  was  called  in  was  the  teacher ; 
and  when  any  of  them  were  on  a 
dying  bed,  the  teacher  must  be  found, 
and  they  passed  away  thanldng  God 
for  her  as  the  instrument  of  their 
conversion  to  Chi'ist.  Of  those  who 
remain,  every  one  is  a  Sunday-school 
teacher.  But  her  work  as  a  mere 
Sunday-school  teacher  with  them  is 


133 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL    WORLD. 


not  all,  for  she  has  now  a  class  of 
about  a  hundred  and  fifty  more. 
This  shows  how  God  gives  power  to 
those  who  give  themselves  to  His 
work.  She  visits  every  one  of  these 
families  frequently;  from  forty  to 
fifty  families  a  week.  This  is  a 
severe  task,  but  who  would  not  be 
taxed  here  to  read  hereafter,  in  the 
Lamb's  Book  of  Life,  through  count- 
less ages  of  the  eternal  world,  the 
names  of  those  whom  we  have  been 
instrumental,  under  God,  in  gather- 
ing to  His  fold  ? — /.  H.  Douglas. 

459.  The  visiting  teacher  is 

a  true   missionary.     Many  scholars 
in  large  towns  and  cities  are  drawn 
from  the  people  who  do  not  attend 
public   worship.      When,  therefore, 
the  teacher  visits  their   homes   and 
speaks  for  Christ,  he  is  a  city  mis- 
sionary, whose  words  and  efforts  are 
all  the  more  appreciated  because  they 
are  voluntarily  given.     It  is  no  dis- 
grace to  be  a  paid  agent,  and  if  a 
man  devote  his  whole  energies  to  any 
spiritual  woi'k  he  ought  to  be  sufii- 
ciently  remunerated  and  supported. 
But  the  unpaid  agency  of  the  Sabbath- 
school,  where  it  is   devoted  to   the 
faithful  visitation  of  scholars'  homes, 
would  have  a  moral  might  of  no  or- 
dinary kind.     Fellow-labourers,  you 
have  this  in  your  power !     Use  it  for 
the  Lord.     In  this  way  you  can  very 
materially  aid  the  labours    of    the 
minister  and  extend  the  Gospel,  and 
make  the  Sabbath- school  the  nursery 
of  the  Church.— Dr.  Steel. 


460. 


The     Sabbath-school 


teacher  also,  from  his  own  necessities 
and  from  duty,  must  needs  visit  his 
scholars  often.  He  has  a  real  errand 
to  the  home  of  every  child.  He  can 
snatch  intervals  of  time  in  going 
to  or  returning  from  business.  He 
cannot  teach  that  child  aright  and 
to  good  advantage  unless  he  is  well 
acquainted  with  all  his  home  influ 
ences  :  with  aU.  that  is  in  the  child's 


surroundings  to  help  or  hinder  the 
teacher's  work  ;  with  all  the  dangers, 
temptations,  and  trials  of  the  child's 
every-day  life ;  with  all  the  charac- 
teristics of  parents  and  friends.  It 
is  from  the  "sdeinity  of  these  homes 
that  the  teacher  will  be  enabled  to 
see  and  hear  things  that  will  furnish 
him  with  good  illustrations.  He  can 
obtain  the  parents'  co-operation  and 
friendship,  and  have  personal  inter- 
views, and  gain  the  child's  spiritual 
confidence  in  these  visits  to  his  home 
and  fireside  circle.  "My  teacher 
has  come  to  see  me,"  is  often  the 
joyful  utterance  of  the  grateful  little 
ones. — Pardee. 

461. The  influence  of  the 

heart  upon  the  head  enters  most 
evidently  under  this  consideration. 
To  teach  wisely  and  well,  a  teacher 
must  visit  well.  The  affections  of 
the  scholar  must  be  gained.  Nothing 
secures  them  so  firmly  as  visitation 
— personal  visitation  at  the  scholars' 
homes.  The  success  of  every  teacher 
will  depend  much  on  his  frequent, 
friendly,  and  Christian  visitation  of 
his  scholars,  thus  availing  himself  of 
their  sympathies,  with  that  of  their 
parents,  begetting  a  reciprocal  kind- 
ness, exciting  his  own  interest  in 
duty,  and  preparing  the  soil  of  the 
heart  for  the  proper  culture  of  Sab- 
bath-school instruction. — Dr.  Hart. 

462, Visit    every    absent 

scholar  during  the  week.  If  sick, 
visit  them  frequently.  Carry  them 
papers,  pictures,  flowers,  books,  deli- 
cacies. Chat  lovingly  and  en- 
couragingly to  them.  Read  to 
them.  "Time?"  Take  time.  Deny 
yourself.  Let  it  cost  you  something. 
JS'ever  allow  an  absent  scholar  to  be 
seven  days  unvisited.  One  call 
may  save  him.  Visit  the  parents. 
Study  the  child's  home.  Consult 
with  father  and  mother  as  to  the 
best  interests  of  the  scholar.  Secure 
their  assistance  in  the  weekly  pre- 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WOKLD. 


137 


paration  of  his  lesson.  See  if  there 
are  not  other  children  there  who 
should  attend  school.  Gret  the 
parents  to  attend  church.  If  they 
attend  church,  see  if  they  attend 
Sunday-school  as  often  as  possible. 
Encourage  your  scholars  to  visit  you. 
Have  one  hour  each  week — the  re- 
ception hour — when  you  will  always 
be  happy  to  greet  them  at  your  own 
house  or  room.  Or  appoint  one 
evening  a  month  for  this  purpose. 
Ask  them  to  take  a  cuj)  of  tea  with 
you.  These  are  very  little  things ; 
but  they  may  prove  to  be  silken 
cords,  which  will  hold  tightly  and 
lift  heavenward  little  souls  which,  1 
perhaps,  stout  cables  of  effort  could 
never  touch. — Rev.  J.  H.  Vincent. 


463. 


^'A  lady  had  a  Sab- 


bath class,  to  teach  which  she  made 
diligent  preparation ;  the  instruc- 
tions in  the  class  were  necessarily 
of  a  somewhat  general  nature,  but 
she  desired  that  each  of  her  scholars 
should  be  converted  to  God.  There- 
fore it  ivas  her  habit  to  prai/  speci- 
fically for  each  scholar,  and  then  to 
visit  each  one  in  her  home,  for  the 
purpose  of  special  religious  conver- 
sation. She  laboured  to  save  not 
her  class,  but  the  particular  souls  in 
her  class.  It  is  worth  repeating, 
that  this  humble,  faithful  teacher 
had  reason  to  believe  that  each  of 
her  scholars  had  become  a  true 
Christian."  Let  each  Sunday-school 
teacher  copy  this  bright  example. 
"What  fruit  might  we  expect  from 
the  youth  in  our  classes  were  such 
prayerful  interest  taken  in  individual 
scholars  ? — Dr.  Steel. 

464. ,"  '  Where    is    little 

Henry  ?  he  has  been  absent  for 
three  Sundays,'  asked  a  superinten- 
dent. '  I  do  not  know ;  I  will  see 
about  him  in  the  week.'  And  to- 
wards the  close  of  the  week,  for  fear 
of  the  superintendent's  reproof,  the 
dilatory,    slothful  teacher  called  on 


little  Henry,  but  found  that  death 
had  marked  him  for  his  own.  He 
had  ivished  to  see  his  teacher,  but 
his  parents  knew  not  where  he  lived ; 
and  when,  at  last,  he  called,  he  was 
too  late — his  scholar's  eyes  were 
closed  in  death."  This  is  not  an 
uncommon  case. — Dr.  Steel. 

465. How  often   have    T 

known  a  dying  child  exclaim,  ' '  Oh 
send  for  my  teacher ;  I  want  to  see 
my  teacher," — and  this  in  repeated 
cases  of  even  infant  scholars. — Dr. 
Tijng. 

466.  Eecognising  Scholars  out  of 
School. — ''I  knew  Mr.  Smith  would 
recognise  me,"  said  a  young  lady  to 
her  mother,  as  they  were  leaving  the 
street-car  in  which  Mr.  Smith  and 
themselves  had  been  riding.  Mr. 
Smith  always  knew  his  scholars, 
whether  in  the  car,  or  in  the  street, 
or  in  the  church,  or  in  the  school,  or 
at  home,  or  wherever  he  or  they 
might  be,  and  his  kindly  recognition 
had  much  to  do  in  prepossessing  his 
class  to  receive  instruction  on  the 
Sabbath.  Always  notice  your  scho- 
lars in  the  street  with  a  polite,  cordial 
bow — not  with  a  nod,  as  you  would 
hail  an  omnibus,  but  with  a  pleasant 
smile,  to  show  you  are  pleased  to  see 
them. — House. 

467.  Winning  Hearts. — Teach- 
ing speaks  through  the  affections. 
I  once  asked  a  minister  how  he  had 
such  a  singular  injtluence  over  certain 
boys  in  the  Sunday-school.  "By 
taking  walks  with  them,"  said  he. 
Were  not  those  circuits  round  Gralilee 
which  Jesus  made  with  His  disciples 
walks  that  he  took  with  them  to  pre- 
pare them  for  their  work  ?  It  was 
not  the  walks,  but  the  friendship, 
and  kindly  interest,  and  the  trust, 
that  knit  together  that  minister  and 
those  boys  in  chains  of  gold.  Season 
with  the  salt  of  kindness  the  routine 
of  verbal  instruction.      The  truths 


138 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WOELD. 


that  your  scholars  may  not  Avholly 
appreciate  will  be  clung  to  for  your 
sake  before  they  have  mastered  them 
for  theii'  own.  "  Why  do  you  prefer 
to  hear  Mr.  Brown  above  every  other 
preacher  ?  "  was  once  asked  of  an  old 
coloured  woman.  ' '  Because  he  visits 
and  talks  to  me  at  home,"  was  the 
laconic  but  all-satisfactory  reply. 
Beloved  teacher,  do  you  belong  to 
that  band  who  talk  of  Christ  to  your 
scholars  out  of  love  to  the  Saviour, 
and  with  the  purpose  of  winning 
each  to  the  Savioiu'?  If  not,  why 
not  ? — House. 


A  POETEAIT  GALLEEY. 

468.  The  Excellent  Teacher.— 
Many  sheets  of  paper  would  be  con- 
sumed in  fully  describing  the  cha- 
racter and  habits  of  this  useful 
Christian.  Let  it  suffice  for  the 
present  to  take  a  hasty  glance  at 
him.  It  will  be  a  pleasant  task. 
The  place  to  find  him  during  school 
hours,  is  at  his  post  of  duty.  He 
loves  his  work  so  well,  that  he  makes 
his  arrangements  beforehand  to  be 
regular  and  punctual.  He  does  not 
let  his  watch  run  down,  does  not  lag 
in  bed  two  hours  later  on  Sunday 
morning  than  on  other  days,  nor 
does  he  forget  his  preparations  till 
so  late  an  hour  that  he  has  to  run 
with  dangerous  speed  lest  he  should 
be  tardy  at  school.  It  is  a  pleasure 
to  watch  him  while  he  is  at  work. 
No  cross  words,  no  sour  looks,  no 
sarcastic  speeches  mar  the  enjoyment 
which  the  scholars  feel  in  receiving 
instruction  from  him.  The  young- 
sters love  to  be  taught  by  him.  Not 
because  the  teaching  is  all  sugar- 
plums aud  candy,  but  that  with  the 
sweets  of  kind  manner  they  take  in 
sound  instruction  and  gospel  educa- 
tion. When  he  asks  them  questions, 
it  is  not  to  chuckle  over  their  ignor- 


ance of  the  answers,  or  to  prove  that 
they  are  indolent  dunces,  but  to  draw 
out  what  knowledge  they  have,  and 
to  pave  the  way  for  improvement  in 
that  in  which  they  are  cleiicient. 
"  Speaking  the  truth  in  love,"  is  his 
motto.  He  gives  them  pure,  sound, 
undiluted  gospel,  and  gives  it  in  such 
a  way  as  to  make  them  relish  it,  and 
hunger  and  thirst  for  more.  It  need 
not  be  supposed  that  the  kindness 
which  this  teacher  shows  to  his 
class  prevents  him  from  enforcing 
discipline.  He  knows  that  one  of 
the  kindest  acts  he  can  perform  for 
them,  is  to  show  them  what  they  do 
wrong,  and  how  to  do  it  rightly. 
Mr.  Spoon,  who  teaches  the  class 
near  by,  does  not  believe  in  exercising 
discipline  on  children,  for  fear  of 
hurting  their  feelings,  and  making 
them  dislike  him.  Consequently  his 
class  is  generally  in  an  uproar.  Not 
so  with  the  class  of  Mr.  Excellent. 
It  is  a  model  of  decent  behaviour ; 
and  the  boys  have  more  respect  and 
affection  for  their  teacher  than  Mr. 
Spoon's  boys  will  ever  feel  for  theirs. 
The  Excellent  teacher  is  a  man  of 
enterprise.  While  he  has  great 
respect  for  our  forefathers  who  com- 
piled and  used  the  "New-England 
Primer,"  he  does  not  believe  that 
that  good  book  should  be  the  prin- 
cipal staple  of  teaching  to  the  youth 
of  the  present  day.  He  loves  and 
respects  the  hjonns,  question  books, 
reward  tickets,  and  other  helps, 
which  were  used  when  he  was  a  small 
boy;  yet,  in  the  present  day  of  pro- 
gress, he  would  no  more  confine  him- 
self to  these  than  he  would  go  from 
Boston  to  Washington  by  stage  in- 
stead of  in  the  railroad  cars.  What- 
ever is  offered  in  the  way  of  im- 
provement, he  examines;  accepting 
it  if  good,  rejecting  it  if  of  the 
style  of  many  of  the  catch-penny 
things  which  designing  inventors 
and  publishers  palm  off  on  the 
unsuspecting,  as  necessary  and  im- 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WORLD. 


139 


portant  aids  to  their  work.     "Wlien 
the  work  is  to  be  done  this  teacher 
is  the  man  to   do  it.         He    does 
not  shirk  his  share  of  labour,  ex- 
pense,   or   responsibility.      He   does 
not  consent  to  be  placed  upon  a  com- 
mittee merely  for   the   glory  of  it, 
with    the  understanding    that    the 
•other  members  shall  do   the  work, 
•or  that  they  shall  all  leave  it  undone, 
and  then  report  "progress,"  as  many 
•committees  do.     He  looks  on  this  as 
a  species  of  dishonesty  and   crafti- 
ness,  which  is   disgraceful  to   any 
professor  of  religion.     He  is   cour- 
teous in  his  dealings  with  his  fellow- 
teachers.    He  loves  them,  and  makes 
them  love  him.     More  than  this,  he 
supports  the  authorities  of  the  school, 
and  of  the  Church.     You  never  hear 
him  groaning  or  muttering  over  some 
regulation  which  he  does  not  like,  or 
at  some  action  of  the  superintendent 
which  he  would  prefer  to  have  other- 
wise.    Of  his  habits  of  visiting  the 
scholars   and  their  parents,    of  his 
methods  of  dealing  with  cross  and 
rebellious  children,  of  his  studious 
preparation  for  his  class  duties,  of 


ascent  may  be  easier.  The  better 
the  reward,  the  more  worthy  of 
winning.  The  higher  the  calling, 
the  more  glorious  the  excellence  of 
attaining  it. — Taylor. 


469.  The  Heedless  Teacher.— 
Our  teacher  is  entirely  unprepared  in 
the  lesson.  He  knows  where  it  is, 
because  he  remembers  where  last 
Sunday's  was,  by  the  boys  having 
stumped  him  on  that  hard  question. 
So,  with  triumphant  air  of  know- 
ledge, he  makes  believe  that  he  has 
studied  it.  He  turns  promptly  to 
the  right  chapter,  and  asks  the  boys 
if  they  know  it.  It  is  hard  to  cheat 
boys,  though ;  and  these  boys,  find- 
ing him  out,  begin  to  make  fun  of 
him  to  each  other.  After  he  has 
asked  all  the  questions  in  large  print, 
the  boys  put  several  questions  to  him 
which  he  cannot  answer.  He  is 
forced  to  the  confession,  that  on  ac- 
count of  the  great  press  of  business 
on  him — indeed,  this  has  been  the 
busiest  week  of  his  life — he  was  not 
able  to  do  his  lesson  that  justice  which 
should  have  been  done  to  it.     But, 


his  neatness  and  order  in  doing  his  as  he  considers  Bible  stud;y-  a  great 
work,  and  in  keeping  his  books,  at  privilege,  he  will  be  certain  to  be 
volume  might  be  written.  One  other  j  well  prepared  on  the  lesson  next 
trait  in  his  character  need  only  be  Sunday.  It  is  an  open  question  in 
mentioned.     "  Behold,  he  prayeth." 


His  prayerful  spirit  of  devotion  is 
the  basis  of  all  his  excellence.  He 
prays,  as  he  labours,  for  the  conver- 
sion of  every  boy  in  his  class.  He 
is  satisfied  with  nothing  less  than 
this.  Faithful,  earnest,  intelligent, 
arduous  in  his  devotion  to  his  work, 
he  hopes  on,  labours  on,  prays  on, 
■encouraged  now  and  then  by  seeing 
tiopefal  conversions  ;  discouraged 
sometimes  by  their  absence  ;  but 
always  trusting  in  the  promise  of 
the  Lord  of  the  harvest,  to  whom  he 
looks  for  continued  and  final  bless- 
ings on  all  his  labours.  Teacher ! 
is  the  standard  hiffh  ?     Climb  up  to 


the  school  whether  to  ask  this  teacher 
to  stop  teaching,  or  to  try  to  rectify 
him.  Rectification  will  involve  al- 
most making  him  over  again  fi'om 
the  beginning,  undoing  the  work, 
thoughts,  and  habits  of  many  years' 
standing];  while  turning  him  out 
would  be  short  work.  They  do  not 
want  to  hurt  his  feelings.  But  one 
good  brother  goes  kindly  to  him  to 
tell  him  of  his  shortcomings,  and  to 
try  to  set  him  right.  Mr.  Heedless 
listens  to  him  for  a  moment,  then 
draws  himself  up  with  dignity,  and 
tells  the  brother  that  he  sees  he  is 
not  appreciated  at  that  school,  and 
that  there  is  a  better  Sundav-school 


it.     Do  not  pull  it  down,  that  your  in  the  next  street  anxious  for  his 


140 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WORLD. 


services.  He  will  go  there,  lie  be- 
lieves. Off  he  goes,  in  high  dudgeon, 
to  the  better  Sunday-school  in  the 
next  street,  where  somebody  once 
complimented  him  to  make  him  stop 
talking  high-sounding  nonsense,  and 
where  he  erroneously  believes  he  is 
wanted.  Ko  Sunday-school  wants  a 
heedless  teacher. —  Taylor. 

470.  The' Shallow  Teacher.— 
This  teacher  takes  his  place  in  his 
class  in  a  state  of  great  mental  po- 
verty. He  is  troubled  to  know  how 
he  shall  spin  out  his  little  stock  in 
trade,  so  as  to  make  of  it  a  sufficient 
show  to  persuade  his  scholars  that  he 
is  a  profound  student.  He  has,  in  a 
number  of  instances,  succeeded  in 
passing  for  quite  a  good  biblical 
scholar.  The  longer  he  keeps  up  the 
appearance,  however,  the  greater  is 
the  effort.  Sometimes  it  almost 
crushes  him  in  the  performance  of 
his  duties,  and  makes  him  very  ner- 
vous and  anxious.  His  learning  is 
made  up  of  a  heavy  dose  of  question- 
book,  and  a  thin  skimming  of  several 
commentaries  which  he  has  at  home. 
This  is  taken  in  very  hurriedly.  He 
calls  it  his  preparation.  It  would  be 
wiser  to  call  it  a  lack  of  preparation. 
It  is  entirely  unavailable  for  all  pur- 
poses for  which  Christian  teaching 
is  used,  and  answers  only  for  the 
purpose  of  deceiving  himself  and 
trying  to  deceive  others.  As  he 
enters  the  school,  he  congratulates 
himself  that  the  session  will  not  be 
very  long,  that  the  superintendent 
will  consume  part  of  the  time  in  the 
opening  and  closing  exercises,  and 
(he  hopes)  a  speech ;  that  the  libra- 
rian must  spend  some  of  his  time  in 
his  performances ;  and  that,  after 
all,  if  all  the  teachers  were  thoroughly 
examined,  some  might  turn  out  to 
be  as  shallow  as  himself.  When  the 
time  for  teaching  actually  commences 
he  feels  as  if  the  time  for  his  public 
execution  has  arrived.    Nevertheless, 


he  determines  to  be  as  brave  as  he  can 
be,  to  look  wise  and  not  go  beyond 
his  depth.  With  the  air  (as  much 
as  possible)  of  a  theological  professor,, 
he  begins  to  make  the  most  of  the 
little  stock  of  undigested  material 
which  he  has  in  store.  In  his  man- 
ner, this  teacher  is  somewhat  pomp- 
ous and  externally  wise.  He  talks 
so  loud  as  to  be  heard  by  all  the 
classes  which  are  neighbours  to  his 
own.  As  he  feels  his  defects,  he 
sees  the  importance  of  passing  for  a 
profound  man  in  the  eyes  of  his 
fellow- teachers.  He  uses  long  words, 
sometimes  rightly,  sometimes  very 
much  out  of  place.  He  generally 
makes  a  stir  and  fuss  with  his  teach- 
ing, very  much  lilie  the  commotion, 
made  by  the  last  two  or  three  inches 
of  water  running  out  of  the  bath-tub. 

471.  Argumentative  Teacher. — 
He  is  not  an  ill-natured  man,  yet 
those  who  meet  with  him  judge  that 
he  is,  from  his  fondness  for  opposing 
the  views  of  everybody  else.  He 
suggests  subjects  for  what  he  calls 
conversation.  It  is  soon  discovered 
that  by  conversation  he  means  argu- 
mentative discussion.  He  iiLtroduce& 
controversy  into  his  conversation 
when  there  is  no  necessity  for  it. 
When  he  takes  his  stand  on  an  idea, 
he  thinlis  that  everybody  else  has 
wrong  notions  on  the  subject.  This 
would  not  be  so  bad,  but  he  goes 
further.  He  puts  down  everybody 
whose  \dews  differ  from  his  own,  as 
his  mortal  enemy.  At  the  teachers' 
meetings,  this  teacher  is  a  nuisance. 
The  fervent  interest  which  he  has  in 
the  school,  brings  him  out  on  the 
stormiest  evenings.  The  other  teach- 
ers wish  he  would  stay  at  home ; 
but  no  rain,  snow,  cold,  or  other 
unpleasant  state  of  weather,  hinders 
him.  He  is  not  always  in  time  for 
the  religious  exercises  of  the  meeting, 
but  is  on  hand  when  the  business  is 
brought  up.     He  has  something  to 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL    WORLD. 


141 


.«ay  on  every  subject  that  comes 
before  the  meeting.  And  he  is  apt 
to  say  it  in  such  a  way  as  to  cause 
unpleasant  fervour.  The  views  and 
^' brief  remarks"  which  he  offers, 
the  discussions  and  ventilations  of 
•different  opinions  to  which  he  gives 
rise,  consume  an  important  part  of 
the  time  of  the  meeting.  He  is 
possessed  of  considerable  informa- 
tion ;  sometimes  it  is  right,  some- 
times wrong.  But  no  matter  what 
the  subject  under  discussion,  whether 
•of  vital  doctrine  or  of  the  correctness 
of  his  watch,  he  is  always  positive 
that  he  is  right,  incontestable  evi- 
-dence  to  the  contrary  notwithstand- 
ing. This  is  not  a  useful  teacher. 
He  is  so  much  a  man  of  argument, 
that  he  is  not  a  man  of  prayer.  He 
spends  so  much  time  on  polemics, 
that  he  has  none  left  in  which  to 
speak  to  his  boys  about  the  value  of 
their  souls.  Nor  will  he  be  useful 
until  he  changes  his  ideas  and  his 
habits.  He  must  stop  being  a  debat- 
ing society,  and  remember  that  he  is 
a  teacher  of  the  Gospel.  Then  he 
may  do  some  good. — Taylor. 

472,  The  Inexperienced  Teacher. 
—A  young  man  or  young  woman, 
not  very  far  removed  from  boyhood 
or  girlhood,  fresh  from  the  Bible- 
class  and  boarding-school.  A  young 
person  of  excellent  intentions,  but 
of  such  limited  experience,  and  of 
such  slender  acquaintance  with 
the  things  of  the  world,  or  of 
the  Sunday-school,  that  the  good 
intentions  fail  of  development  into 
practical  usefulness.  The  inexpe- 
rienced teacher  goes  to  his  work  with 
very  little  understanding  of  its  duties 
or  responsibilities.  An  earnest  call 
has  been  made  for  teachers.  All  who 
•can  teach  are  invited  to  come  and 
fill  up  the  gaps  in  the  school.  Our 
young  friend  thinks  he  can  teach. 
It  looks  easy.  The  older  teachers 
seem  to  get  along  well,  and  he  does 


not  see  why  he  should  not  get  along 
as  easily  as  they.  So  he  offers  himself, 
and    his    services    are    thankfully 
accepted.     His   mind  is  filled  with 
the   thought  of  great   activity  and 
usefulness.     This  teacher  has  some 
talent  for  teaching,  but  his  difficulty 
is,  that  it  is  yet  undeveloped.     Like 
a  raw  recruit  who  goes  into  battle, 
and  fails  to  shoot  any  of  the  enemy, 
because   he   does  not  know  how  to 
handle  his  gun  rightly,  so  our  raw 
teacher  is  ignorant  about  taking  aim 
so  as  to  send  the  shafts  of  Grospel 
truth  home   to   the    hearts    of   his 
scholars.      His     abilities    must    be 
developed  by  the  kind  training  of 
those  in  the  school  who  are  older  than 
he  is.     A  little  unkindness  or  un- 
necessary reproof   may   snub    him, 
and  nip  his  usefulness  in  the  bud. 
He   asks   the   boys   how    their    old 
teacher  used  to  teach  them.  Although 
they  laiow  just  how  he  taught,  and 
would  like  to  be  taught  again  in  the 
same  way,  they  are  unable  synopti- 
cally  to  explain  how  it  was,  and  the 
teacher  fears  that  they  are  stupid, 
because  they  do  not  tell  him.    What 
is  he  to  do  with  such  a  dull  set  of 
boys  ?     He  has  formed  no  plan  for 
teaching  ;  it  never  occurred  to  him. 
God  bless  our  young,  raw,  inexpe- 
rienced teacher  !  Go  on,  young  friend, 
and  take  courage.     "Let  no  man 
despise  thy  youth."    ' '  Study  to  show 
thyself  approved  unto  God,  a  work- 
man that  needeth  not  to  be  ashamed, 
rightly  dividing  the  word  of  truth." 
—  Taylor. 

473.  The  Dull  Teacher.— Ten 
years  ago  this  person  took  charge  of 
a  Sunday-school  class,  having  for  his 
capital  a  reasonable  amount  of  Scrip- 
tural and  general  knowledge,  which 
he  had  gained  in  the  ordinary  walks 
of  educational  experience.  Srace 
that  time,  his  perceptive  and  progres- 
sive faculties  have  been  asleep.  He 
has  gained  nothing;  has  made  no 


142 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


progress ;  is  no  "better  as  a  teaclier 
than  he  was  the  day  he  first  sat 
with  his  class.  The  dull  teacher 
feels  no  very  lively  interest  in  his 
class.  His  interest  is  not  sufficient 
to  stir  him  to  punctuality.  He  fre- 
(juently  comes  in  with  the  air  of  a 
laggard,  ten  minutes  after  the  school 
has  begun.  He  takes  his  seat  with 
a  yawn  of  regret,  which  appears 
to  be  partly  for  coming  late,  and 
partly  because  he  has  to  come  at  all. 
Yawning  is  contagious,  so  the  boys 
yawn  too.  Another  yawn  or  two, 
and  the  lesson  is  commenced.  The 
boys  plod  through  the  reading,  verse 
by  verse,  of  the  chapter.  When  they 
miscall  the  hard  names,  he  does  not 
correct  them.  If  a  boy  misses  the 
right  verse,  and  reads  the  wrong  one,- 
he  takes  no  notice  of  it.  The  only 
irregularity  which  attracts  his  atten- 
tion, is  when  five  boys  in  succession 
read  the  same  verse,  which  they 
sometimes  do  for  fun.  Then  his 
wrath  rises  at  them.  Now,  what  is 
the  use  of  such  a  prosy  plod,  such  as 
this  man  is,  put  to  work  to  teach 
children  the  way  of  ]ife  ?  Do  you 
•  want  to  have  your  boy  in  his  class  ? 
No ;  nor  would  I  put  mine  under 
his  care.  We  want  the  teacher  who 
is  wide  awake,  whose  interest 
prompts  him  to  continual  acquisi- 
tions of  fresh  information,  that  he 
may  impart  it  to  his  scholars  ; 
whose  love  for  souls  is  so  great, 
that  no  sacrifice  is  spared  in  doing 
his  work  ;  whose  devoted  energy 
manifests  itself  in  cheerful  en- 
deavours for  the  good  of  his  class 
and  of  the  school  ;  whose  eyes 
sparkle  with  delight  when  he  sits 
down  to  engage  in  the  performance 
of  his  Sabbath-day  exercises.  To 
such  a  teacher  we  gladly  and  hope- 
fully send  our  children.  Good-bye, 
Mr.  Dull  Teacher.  Go  away  or 
turn  over  a  new  leaf.  We  don't 
want  you  in  our  Sunday-school. — 
Taylor. 


474.  The  'Wearisome  Teacher. — 
It  is  tiresome  business  to  be  near  this 
man  while  he  is  giving  instruction 
to  his  boys.     He  is  a  man  of  indus- 
trious  and   inexhaustible    patience. 
He  thinks  everybody  else  ought  to 
be  as  patient  as  he  is.     He  grieves 
over  the  depravity  of  the   present 
generation,  as  he  notices  the  general 
indisposition  to  give  heed  to  his  pro- 
longed remarks.     To  sit  in  his  class 
and  be  regularly  taught  by  him,  is 
even  heavier  than  to  be  an  occasional 
bystander.     When  he  takes  his  seat 
in  his   class,  he   begins  to  act  the 
preacher.     His  boys  are  his  congre- 
gation.    His  chair  becomes  a  pulpit, 
one  of  the  old-fashioned  kind,  with 
toad- stool   column   underneath   and 
sounding      board     overhead.      His 
teaching  is,  in  fact,  a  sermon.     It 
has    heads,    divisions,    subdivisions, 
and    so    forth.     It   continues    until 
a  stop  is  put  to  it  by  the  closing  of 
the     school,    and    would     continue- 
longer  if  time  were  allowed  for  it. 
His  arguments  are  good.     His  logic 
unexceptionable.      His  applications 
tolerably  fair.    He  sufiers  nothing  tO" 
interrupt  him,  except  disorderly  con- 
duct  on  the  part  of  some  wearied 
boy.  When  this  occurs,  he  digresses^ 
to  deliver  a  lecture  of  fifteen  minutes 
on  the  shamefulness  of  doing  what 
the  boy  has   done.     After  the  first 
three  minutes  of  this  exercise  have 
passed,   the  boy  forgets    what    the' 
teacher  is  talking  about.     But  the 
teacher,  with  serious  face  and  mo- 
notonous tone   of    voice,    keeps   on^ 
He  means  well.    He  has  no  intention 
of  doing  otherwise  than  his  duty  de- 
mands.    The  eflect  of  his  teaching- 
is  rather  to  tire  than  to  instruct ;  to 
displease    rather    than    to    interest. 
When  a  speech  is  to  be  made,  and 
nobody  else  is  on  hand  to  make  it,. 
Wearisome  is  put  on  the  stand.     As 
these  occasions  seldom  occur,  he  make* 
the  most  of  them.     He  talks  against 
time,   against    patience,   and    often 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WORLD. 


143 


against  common  sense.  He  occupies 
three-quarters  of  an  hour  in  saying 
what,  in  many  instances,  could  be 
■condensed  into  ten  minutes,  and  in 
many  others  need  not  be  said  at  all. 
It  is  fatiguing  work  to  listen  to  his 
""few  remarks." — Taylor. 

475.  The  Inconstant  Teacher. — 
As  a  fine-looking  carriage-horse,  just 
doctored  up  to  be  sold,  starts  off  with 
great  speed,  proudly  prancing,  and 
with  impatient  champing  of  the  bit, 
so  this  teacher  commences  his  duties 
with  much  outward  demonstration, 
which  appears  to  promise  excellent 
results.  As  the  gay  horse,  after  he  has 
been  driven  a  few  miles,  suddenly 
becomes  tired,  and  shows  symptoms 
of  a  desire  to  go  no  further,  so,  when 
the  novelty  of  teaching  in  Sunday- 
school  has  worn  oif,  and  the  fact  is 
realised  that  there  is  actually  some 
hard  work  connected  with  it,  the  un- 
stable person's  efforts  relax.  He 
wants  to  stop  and  take  breath.  The 
good  intentions  and  resolutions  with 
which  he  has  stimulated  himself  to 
action  have  ceased  their  working,  and 
he  must  stop  till  he  can  get  up  some 
more.  He  is  a  broken-winded  teacher. 
His  intentions  in  beginning  the  work 
were  good.  He  knew  that  he  ought 
to  teach  in  the  Sunday-school,  and 
he  felt  that  he  could  do  it.  His  de- 
termination was,  that  no  stormy 
weather  should  keep  him  from  his 
work,  that  he  would  always  be  punc- 
tual, and  that  his  class  duties  should 
be  conducted  with  neatness  and  re- 
gularity. He  resolved  that  he  would 
never  go  unprepared  to  his  class.  To 
this  end  he  spent  a  considerable 
amount  of  money  in  buying  books 
and  maps  to  help  him  in  his  study  of 
the  Scriptures.  He  is  discouraged. 
He  comes  late.  A  rainy  Sunday 
keeps  him  at  home.  What  is  the  use 
in  his  getting  his  feet  wet  just  for 
those  dull  boys  ?  A  friend  comes  to 
■spend  Sunday  with  him,  and  he  stays 


at  home  to  entertain  him,  or  goes 
with  him  to  hear  the  flash  preacher 
at  the  other  end  of  the  town.  It 
does  not  occur  to  him  to  provide  a 
substitute  for  his  class,  or  even  to 
tell  the  superintendent  that  he  will 
not  be  there.  The  class  may  look 
out  for  itself.  How  did  it  get  along 
before  he  was  there  ?  He  soon  be- 
comes very  irregular,  and  presently 
stays  away  altogether.  He  still  says 
that  he  loves  the  Sunday-school,  and 
that  his  interest  in  it  is  unabated ; 
but  when  asked  to  return  to  his  post, 
he  begins  to  enumerate  some  twenty 
reasons  why  he  cannot,  all  of  which 
should  be  honestly  condensed  into — 
"  I  don't  want  to." — Taylor. 


TEAOHEES'  MISTAKES. 

It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  mere 
talk  is  teaching.  It  is  a  mistake  to 
think  that  hearing  a  Bible  lesson 
recited,  or  the  reading  of  questions 
from  a  book,  or  telling  stories  is 
good  Sabbath- school  teaching.  It 
is  a  mistake  to  think  that  one  who 
in  manner  and  temper  is  impatient, 
dogmatic,  overbearing,  slow,  heavy 
or  dull,  can  be  a  good  Sabbath- 
school  teacher.  It  is  a  mistake  to 
suppose  that  one  who  is  not  under- 
stood, or  is  misunderstood,  is  a  good 
teacher.  It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose 
that  he  who  gossips  with  liis  class  is 
a  good  teacher.  It  is  a  mistake  to 
suppose,  because  we  have  a  general 
idea  beforehand,  that  we  shaU  be 
able  to  supply  the  details  and  illus- 
trations as  we  go  along.  It  is  a 
great  mistake  to  underrate  oral 
teaching,  and  overrate  merely  read- 
ing and  reciting  from  the  Bible.  It 
is  a  great  mistake  to  think  that  our 
scholars  are  too  young  to  appreciate 
a  well-prepared  lesson  or  a  well- 
governed  school.     It  is  a  mistake  of 


144 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


teacliers  to  expect  attention  from 
motives  of  duty,  or  the  sacredness 
of  the  day,  or  importance  of  sub- 
ject—nothing but  real  interest  will 
secure  it.  It  is  a  mistake  to  teach 
as  if  all  young  children  had  the 
same  tastes.  It  is  a  great  mistake 
to  fail  to  arouse  curiosity  and  awaken 
interest.  It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose 
that  we  shall  be  understood  without 
careful  simplicity  of  language.  It 
is  a  mistake  not  to  recall  by  ques- 
tions the  last  Sabbath's  lesson,  and 
to  treat  lessons  as  if  they  were 
isolated ;  by  all  means  connect  them. 
It  is  a  great  mistake  for  teachers  to 
think  that  giving  good  advice  or  ex- 
hortation to  children  is  as  good  as 
"  breaking  down"  Bible  truths  with 
questions  and  answers.  It  is  a  mis- 
take to  suppose  that  many  common 
terms,  such  as  "Providence," 
"grace,"  "repentance,"  "justifica- 
tion," &c.,  convey  any  meaning  to 
children,  ordinarily.  It  is  a  mis- 
take to  attempt  to  purchase  affec- 
tion or  attention  by  fi^equent  gifts 


to  children ;  or,  on  the  other  hand,, 
to  influence  them  by  threats  or  pun- 
ishments. It  is  a  great  mistake  of 
Sabbath-school  teachers  to  suppose 
that  their  work  is  that  of  a  mere- 
philanthropist,  or  a  moral  educator, 
or  a  mere  promoter  of  social  good 
order,  or  raising  up  of  good  citizens 
and  children.  It  is  a  mistake  of 
teachers  to  expect  a  cold  reception 
from  parents.  It  is  a  mistake  of 
teachers  to  suppose  that  their  manner- 
and  habits  are  unobserved  by  the 
children.  It  is  a  mistake  to  avoid 
repetition  mth  children — simplify 
and  repeat.  It  is  a  mistake  to  teach 
our  children,  that  if  they  will  be 
good  and  read  the  Bible,  pray  and 
join  the  Chui'ch,  they  will  thereby 
go  to  heaven.  JS^othing  but  repent- 
ance toward  God  and  faith  in  the 
Lord  Jesus  Chi'ist  wiU  secure  that. 
It  is  a  great  mistake  for  Sabbath- 
school  teachers  ever  to  teach  Bible 
truth  without  being  really  in  earnest 
— calmly,  cheerfully,  seriously  in 
earnest. — Pardee. 


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IV.    THE    SCHOLAR. 


HOME  EELATIONS. 

476.  The  Pamily  and  the  Sunday- 
School. — Without  assuming  to  de- 
cide whether  Robert  Raikes  be  the 
organizer  of  the  modern  Sunday- 
school  or  not,  it  is  well  known  that 
the  scholars  whom  he  gathered  to- 
gether on  the  Sabbath  for  instruc- 
tion were  the  children  of  irreligious 
parents.  They  were  miserable, 
ragged,  wretched  boys,  the  pest  of 
the  streets  of  Gloucester,  and  it  was 
because  of  parental  neglect  that  the 
movement  was  commenced.  Those, 
therefore,  who  think  the  design  of  the 
Sunday  school  moveinent  is  to  take 
the  place  of  family  religious  instruc- 
tion, speak  without  proper  delibera- 
tion. The  Sunday-school  is  an 
assistant  to  the  parent,  not  something 
in  the  place  of  the  parent.  An- 
tagonism it  never  has  had,  and  never 
purposes  to  have,  either  to  the  family 
or  the  Church.  It  rejoices  most  de- 
voutly in  any  interest  that  the 
Church  or  parents  may  take  in  the 
training  of  the  children,  and  never  is 
a  true  teacher's  heart  so  full  as  when 
the  mother  or  father  tells  of  his  desire 
to  help  in  leading  the  child  to  Jesus. 
But  how,  it  will  be  asked,  shall 
parents  assist  in  the  work  of  re- 
ligiously instructing  their  children  ? 
1.  They  can  themselves  be  con- 
sistent Christians.  Example  pleads 
with  higher  power  than  words.  A 
life  of  steady,  uniform,  patient  de- 
votion   to    Christ  will  impress  the 


I  child's  heart  in  such  a  way  that  aD. 
j  the   rough  rubs   of  the   world  will 
I  scarcely  or  never  obliterate  those  im- 
pressions. 

2.  Attend  carefully  to  family  de- 
votion, and  see  that  none  of  the 
children  are  absent,  sleeping,  playing, 
reading,  or  something  else  during 
the  exercise.  Accept  no  excuse  but 
sickness.  Read  not  as  a  dull 
formality,  but  with  a  view  to  obtain 
important  instruction  for  time  and 
eternity.  Enliven  and  improve  the 
service  by  singing.  If  there  is 
but  little  musical  talent  in  the 
family,  give  that  little  to  the  Lord. 
Our  hymns  are  often  full  of  petitions, 
and  the  music  quickens  our  faculties. 
Occasionally,  just  before  or  just  after 
singing  a  stanza,  call  attention  to 
sentiments  which  otherwise  might  be 
passed  over  with  negligence  from 
frequent  repetition.  "Do  we  feel 
this  gratitude  which  we  are  about  to 
express  to  God  for  having  kept  us 
during  the  night?"  Or,  "Are  we 
sincere  in  this  confession  of  sin  which 
we  have  made,  or  are  about  to  make  ?'' 
Such  questions  would  re2)ress  care- 
lessness, and  lead  all  to  remember 
that  what  is  said  on  earth  is  re- 
membered in  heaven.  Encourage 
your  children  to  take  part  in  the 
exercises.  "I  have  a  boy,"  said 
a  friend  once,  "who  is  twelve 
years  of  age,  who,  two  or  three  times 
a  week,  joins  in  the  prayer  at  the 
family  altar."  "  The  Republic  is  at 
the  fireside,"  said  the  Roman  orator. 


H 


14G 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


The  Church  is  there  too.  It  is  a 
small  field,  may  be,  but  it  is  worth 
the  most  assiduous  cultivation.  Your 
sons  and  your  daughters  are  growing 
for  the  pulpit,  for  the  religious  press, 
for  the  place  of  social  prayer,  for 
benevolent  labour,  and  for  the  com- 
mittal of  Christian  enterprise.  Fill 
them  with  the  truth ;  breathe  over 
their  widening  path  the  breath  of  a 
father's  care,  and  expect,  as  you  mmj 
expect,  the  blessing  of  the  'Highest 
on  their  souls. 

3.  See  that  your  children  observe 
their  secret  prayers  on  retiring.  <' I 
call  up,"  said  a  man  to  us  whose  hair 
was  white  vdth  sixty  winters,  ^'  I  call 
up  the  sight  of  my  mother  tucking 
me  away  in  my  little  trundle  bed. 
Every  lineament  of  that  sainted  face 
is  as  clear  to  me  as  though  she  were 
here  by  my  side.  There  is  the  little 
bed.  I  almost  hear  the  creak  of  its 
wooden  wheels ;  I  almost  see  the 
snow-white  spread ;  I  almost  feel  my 
warm  blankets  that  I  crept  between  ; 
but,  above  all,  I  hear  the  voice  of  my 
mother  reminding  me  to  repeat, 

'  Now  I  lay  me  down  to  sleep.' 

Shall  I,  can  I,  ever  forget  that  little 
prayer — little,  indeed,  in  one  sense, 
but  mighty  in  making  me  feel  the 
obligation  to  serve  God."  Let  the 
older  children  be  instructed  to  make 
confession  to  God  of  the  sins  of  the 
day,  and  implore  help  to  overcome 
for  the  future. 

4.  Make  the  Sabbath  a  pleasant 
day.  Set  apart  an  hour  that  shall 
be  the  childi-en's  hour.  Question 
each  about  the  experience  of  the  day, 
concernirig  the  Simday-school  lesson, 
the  words  of  the  superintendent,  the 
singing,  the  sermon.  Question  out 
of  each  the  truth  taken  in,  and  make 
them  feel  that  their  duties  and 
delights  are  yours  also.  Thi-ough  the 
week  inquii-e  concerning  the  next 
Sunday's  lesson.  Help  to  the  eluci- 
dation and  illustration  of  it.     Any- 


thing you  may  read  bearing  on  the 
lesson  tell,  and,  if  necessary,  re-tell. 
One  day  not  long  since  the  lesson  in 
a  class  we  had  charge  of  involved 
the  subject  of  sloth.  We  asked  the 
girls  to  state  an  illustration.  It  so 
happened  that  one  of  them  had  taken 
occasion,  through  the  week,  to 
mention  the  subject  of  the  lesson  to 
her  father.  He  promised  her  help. 
Some  time  afterwards,  taking  from 
his  pocket  a  bit  of  a  newspaper,  he 
read  her  a  story  of  the  South  Ameri- 
can sloth,  as  told  by  Professor 
Agassiz  in  his  late  book  of  travels. 
The  Professor  found  some  of  these 
animals  on  the  banks  of  the  Amazon, 
so  absolutely  lazy  that  a  vigorous 
whipping  would  scarcely  make  them 
open  their  eyelids,  and,  once  open, 
they  seemed  too  lazy  to  shut  them. 
The  help  of  the  father  and  the 
illustration  fixed  the  truth  of  the  les- 
son indelibly  in  the  child's  mind. 

5.  If  not  a  teacher  in.  the  Sunday 
school,  be  present  as  often  as 
possible.  If  you  are  never  there, 
how  can  you  make  your  children 
understand  that  it  is  a  place  of  any 
importance  ?  Once  a  month,  at 
least,  you  ought  to  be  a  visitor. 

6.  Go  to  chiu'ch  regularly.  I^o 
matter  if  the  minister  or  some  mem- 
ber of  the  church  does  not  exactly 
suit  you ;  go  any  how.  Take  your 
children  along.  Let  them  sit  with 
you.  Be  attentive  to  the  Word, 
speak  favoiu-ably  of  the  minister  on 
your  return  home,  inquire  as  to  the 
text,  amplify  any  unamplified  point, 
and  enforce  the  teachings.  Do  not 
imdo  all  that  has  been  done  by 
thoughtless  or  cruel  criticism. 

7.  Assist  the  pastor  and  the 
teacher  in  the  specific  work  of  teaching 
the  doctrines  of  your  Church;  in 
other  words,  teach  the  Catechism  to 
your  children. 

8.  Provide  proper  reading  matter 
for  your  family.  Ton  are  not  in- 
different as  to  your  table ;  things 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WORLD. 


147 


wholesome  and  seasonable  are  care- 
fully selected.  Be  as  careful  in 
selecting  books  such  as  will  not  only 
interest  and  excite,  but  as  will  afford 
healthy  mental  and  moral  develop- 
ment. Every  household  should  be 
supplied  with  one  or  more  religious 
papers.  Children  should  early  form 
habits  of  regard  for  the  Church,  its 
literature,  and  all  its  movements. 
Many  a  young  man  has  been  held  in 
firm  affection  to  the  faith,  has  had 
habits  of  liberality  established,  from 
the  fact  that  his  father  was  a  sub- 
scriber to  the  Church  paper.  Alto- 
gether, the  most  intelHgent  Church 
members,  the  foremost  supporters  of 
the  ministry,  are  found  amongst 
those  who  are  the  constant  readers 
of  the  literature  of  their  Church. 

9.  Contribute  of  your  means  to 
the  purchase  of  books  for  the  library, 
and  to  meet  such  expenses  as  are 
essential  to  a  successful  prosecution 
of  the  Sunday-school  work.  Do  not 
wait  to  be  pressed  by  the  superin- 
tendent or  pastor.  Find  out  for 
yourself,  and  be  a  willing,  generous, 
regular  contributor.  No  invest- 
ment will  yield  better  returns. — 
House. 


417.  Punctual  Attendance. — It 
is  in  vain  to  say  that  the  children 
should  not  be  allowed  to  come  until 
the  actual  time.  This  is  a  thing 
beyond  the  power  of  rules  to  rectify. 
Many  of  the  children  have  no  actual 
timepiece  at  home.  Some  come  from 
a  distance,  and  cannot  time  their 
arrival  to  a  minute.  The  parents  of 
others  want  them  out  of  the  way, 
and  so  send  them  off'  to  school  as 
soon  as  breakfast  or  dinner  is  over. 
There  will  be,  therefore,  more  or  less 
straggling  in  the  arrival  of  the 
children  at  school.  Some  will  come 
too  late,  and  some  will  come  too 
early.  In  a  school  of  any  size  there 
will  always  be  a  considerable  body 
of  children  assembled  at  least  fifteen 


or  twenty  minutes  before  the  time  for 
opening,  and  the  teachers  must  be 
present  to  take  charge  of  them 
and  keep  them  in  order.  It  is  on  the 
whole  rather  desirable  that  the 
arrival  of  the  scholars  should  be  thus 
gradual.  Were  they  all  to  arrive  upon 
the  premises  at  the  same  moment,  it 
would  lead  to  great  confusion.  When 
they  come  dropping  in  one  or  two  at 
a  time,  each  scholar  can  be  attended 
to  individually,  as  he  arrives,  and  all 
the  little  adjustments  of  dress,  of 
overcoats,  umbrellas,  books,  and  so 
forth  can  be  made  by  the  teacher, 
so  that  by  the  time  all  are  in  their 
seats  all  wiU  be  thoroughly  pre- 
pared, and  ready  for  the  common 
duties  of  the  class. — Dr,  Hart. 

478.  Parental  respect  for  the 
Sunday-school. — Another,  and  the 
only  point  to  which  we  shall  now 
allude,  is  the  z/??pro;;e;-  manner  in 
ivhich  paj-ents  too  often  speak  of  the 
school^  or  the  teacher,  before  the 
child.  A  parent,  especially  a  pious 
parent,  forms  the  character  of  his- 
child.  The  youthful  mind  is  ductile  ; 
the  least  thing  makes  an  abiding 
impression,  for  the  heart  is  soft  and 
yielding.  The  child  drinks  in  the 
remarks  made  by  his  parent,  and 
believes  them  too. — Davids. 

479.  Parental  Pidelity.  —  We 
have  heard  many  pastors  declare  in 
Sabbath-school  Conventions — two  on 
one  occasion — "That  they  never 
could  remember  when  they  did  not 
love  the  Lord  Jesus  with  all  their 
heart;"  and  we  believe  with  the  pious 
Richard  Baxter  that  if  Christian 
parents  were  faithful  in  the  use  of 
the  means  God  has  put  in  their 
hands,  the  most  of  their  children 
would  be  converted  before  they  are 
old  enough  to  understand  a  sermon. 
— Pardee. 


n  'I 


148 


SUKDAY  SCHOOL   WOELD. 


CCNVEESIOIT  or  SOHOLAES. 

480.  Children  must  be  Oonveited. 
— All  children  were  "born  in  sin" 
at  first,  and  our  Saviour  Christ  saith, 
''  Ye  must  be  born  again :"  and  the 
most  liJvely  way  to  fulfil  the  designs 
of  God  is  to  look  to  our  Sunday- 
schools  and  children.  Our  duty  to 
them  includes  something  more  than 
merely  teaching  scholars  to  read  the 
Bible.  God  indeed  has  said,  ''  These 
words  which  I  command  thee  this 
day  shall  be  in  thine  heart ;  and  thou 
shalt  teach  them  diligently  unto  thy 
children."  They  rniist,  therefore,  be 
instructed  in  religion.  An  apostle  of 
Christ  also  speaks  of  "  the  gift  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,"  and  expressly  adds, 
"  The  promise  is  unto  you  and  to 
your  children."  A  promise  is  given 
in  order  to  be  pleaded.  For  "thus 
saith  the  Lord  God,  I  have  spoken  it, 
and  I  wiU  do  it."  "I  will  yet  be 
inquired  of  by  the  house  of  Israel  to 
do  it  for  them."  Few  things  at  this 
day  are  more  needed  than  revival 
prayer  meetings  in  and  for  Sunday- 
schools.  When  that  promise,  in 
answer  to  prayer,  has  been  fulfilled, 
(and,  like  all  the  other  promises  of 
God,  it  is  in  Christ  yea,  and  in  Him 
amen,)  "  I  will  pour  My  Spirit  upon 
thy  seed,  and  My  blessing  upon  thine 
oftspring ;"  then,  when  scholars  are 
asked  by  some  authorised  represen- 
tatives of  the  Church  if  they  now 
ratify  their  own  baptism,  "  One  shall 
say,  I  am  the  Lord's;  and  another 
shall  call  himself  by  the  name  of 
Jacob  ;  and  another  shall  subscribe 
with  his  hand  unto  the  Lord,  and 
surname  himself  by  the  name  of 
Israel." — Samuel  Jackson. 

481.  Early  Conversion. — The  pe- 
riod of  childhood  is  the  very  best 
season  of  the  scholar's  life  for  being 
converted  to  God — the  best  season 
for  feeling  the  attractive  power  of 
Divine  truth  upon  the  heart.   I  have 


no  sympathy  with  those  who  say  they 
ought  not  to  expect  early  conversions ; 
I  have  a  deep  sympathy  with  those 
who  say  they  have  not  looked  for 
conversions  early  enough.  The  fact 
is,  we  are  almost  afraid  to  talk  about 
Christ's  lambs,  and  seem  to  think 
they  must  almost  grow  into  sheep 
before  they  are  brought  into  the 
fold.  The  devil  learns  the  worth  of 
these  little  ones,  and  he  seeks  to  lay 
hold  of  them  as  soon  as  he  can ;  and 
the  sooner  Sunday-school  teachers 
adopt  a  kindred  policy  in  this  respect 
the  more  likely  are  they  to  succeed. 
— Sunday -school  Scrap-hooh. 

482.  Conversions  after  forty 

years  are  very  rare  :  like  the  scattered 
grapes  on  the  remotest  branches  after 
the  vintage  is  over,  there  is  only  one 
here  and  there.  I  have  sometimes 
seen  an  old  withered  oak  standing 
with  its  stiff  and  leafless  branches  on 
the  slopes  of  a  woody  hill ;  though 
the  same  refreshing  rains  and  genial 
sunshine  fell  on  it  as  on  its  thriving 
neighbours,  which  were  green  with 
renewed  youth  and  rich  in  flowing 
foliage,  it  grew  not,  it  gave  no  signs 
of  life,  it  was  too  far  gone  for  genial 
natiu'e  to  assist.  The  old  blanched, 
sapless  oak  is  an  emblem  of  the  aged 
sinner. — Dr.  Thomas. 

483.  Immediate  Conversion.  — 
Immediate  conversion  ought  to  be 
the  aim  and  expectation  of  every 
faithful  Sabbath- school  teacher.  It 
is  indeed  a  poor  excuse  to  suffer  a 
child  to  drown  because  we  have  but 
0716  opportunity  of  saving  it.  When 
a  child  is  in  danger  of  perishing,  we 
do  not  first  try  to  educate  it,  but  to 
save  it.  The  fact  evidently  is,  that 
the  great  mass  of  children  ought  to 
be  led  directly  to  Christ,  and  become 
child- Christians  without  delay ;  and 
multitudes  would  become  such,  me- 
thinks,  if  parents  and  teachers  and 
pastors  had  sufS.cient  confidence  in 
the  power  of  God's  Word  and  Spirit, 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


149 


and  had  faith  for  the  early  conYersion 
of  children  to  Grod.  Nearly  one  and 
a  third  centuries  ago  that  great  divine 
Jonathan  Edwards,  of  Northampton, 
wrote  the  account  of  the  conversion, 
as  he  thought,  of  little  PheheBartlett, 
at  the  early  age  of  four  years,  together 
with  her  Christian  life  for  one  year 
thereafter,  and  the  evidences  of  a 
gracious  change  of  her  heart.  The 
little  book  has  been  published  since 
in  many  of  the  languages  of  Europe. 
Little  Phebe  Bartlett  lived  for  sixty 
years  after  this,  and  neither  herself 
nor  her  friends  ever  doubted  that  she 
truly  met  with  a  saving  change  of 
heart  at  the  early  age  named  by 
President  Edwards.  Many  of  our 
most  learned  divines  and  most 
devoted  and  useful  Christian  ladies 
date  their  conversion  to  the  early 
age  of  three,  four,  five,  and  six 
years. — Pardee. 

484.  Too  Few  Conversions. — 
Our  Sunday-school  system  does  not 
secure  the  early  conversion  of  more 
than  a  fraction  of  the  children  com- 
mitted to  its  care.  Its  little  ojies  are 
not  generally  led  to  Christ.  If  they 
were  they  would,  with  few  exceptions, 
remain  with  the  school  on  reaching 
the  age  of  temptation.  Christ  formed 
in  the  heart  of  the  child  would  prove 
a  mighty  counter- charm  to  the  charm 
of  the  world  when  he  became  a  youth. 
Regenerated  in  childhood,  the  pupil 
would  meet  the  temptations  of  youth 
with  the  current  of  his  being  flowing 
toward  God.  He  would  turn  to  the 
Sunday-school  for  sympathy  and  aid 
in  his  grand  struggle  with  temptation, 
instead  of  running  away  from  it  into 
the  embraces  of  sin.  But  growing 
up  without  a  renewed  heart,  he  only 
follows  the  course  of  nature  in  leaving 
the  Sunday-school  when  passion  a- 
wakes  and  sinful  pleasures  invite. 
The  wonder  is  not,  therefore,  that  so 
many  youth  go,  but  that  any  remain, 
for  conversion  in  early  childhood  is 


the  only  thing  that  either  can  or  will 
put  an  end  to  this  general  hegira  of 
our  older  scholars. — D.  Wise,  D.D. 

485.  Church  Views  of  Early 
Conversions, — For  many  years  past 
large  sections  of  the  Christian  Church 
have  in  practice,  if  not  in  theory, 
disbelieved  in  the  reality  of  youthful 
conversions.  Parents  have  not  ex- 
pected to  see  any  traces  of  the  renew- 
ing influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
exhibited  by  their  children  till  they 
had  almost  reached  adult  age ;  and 
churches  have  all  but  refused  to  admit 
any  to  their  fellowship  but  full-grown 
men  and  women.  Whence  has  arisen 
this  state  of  feeling  ?  May  it  not  be 
traced  to  the  hardness  of  our  imbe- 
lieving  hearts,  the  torpid  sluggishness 
of  our  natures,  and  the  dwartishness 
of  our  spiritual  growth  ?  Is  it  easier 
to  bend  the  twig  or  the  tree  ? — 
Davids. 

486.  Aim  at  Conversion. — You 
go,  in  your  summer  journeys,  into 
some  wild  and  striking  scenery,  and 
you  look  above  you  and  see  a  magni- 
ficent rock  frowning  high  aloft  in  the 
air.  You  see  growing  in  its  crevices 
wall-fiowers,  and  other  products  of 
the  kind,  and  you  say,  "  How  did 
these  ever  come  to  be  there?"  No 
human  foot  ever  could  have  climbed 
to  plant  the  seeds.  The  gentle  winds 
of  heaven  took  them  up  in  their  arms 
and  carried  them  there.  And  so  the 
precious  seeds  of  truth  can  be  carried 
to  the  human  soul  on  the  breath  of 
human  affection,  when  no  other  power 
on  earth  of  which  we  know  is  capable 
of  wafting  it  to  its  place.  Let  teach- 
ers see,  then,  that  they  truly  love 
their  children,  and  the  love  will 
prompt  them  to  visit  them,  to  speak 
kindly  to  them,  to  get  them  a  situa- 
tion if  they  need  it,  to  look  after 
them  in  the  situation,  and  0,  love  is 
wise,  and  love  is  direct,  and  love  is 
patient,  and  love  is  endowed  with  a 


150 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


blessed  tact  of  its  own  whicli  makes 
it  successful  in  winning  its  way  and 
gaining  its  end.  0,  teaclier,  fail  not 
in  this  essential  requisite  if  you  would 
secure  your  scholars'  conversion  to 
Christ.  Teachers  must  be  holy  per- 
sons. Gifts  are  very  different  from 
graces.  The  world  makes  much  of 
gifts  ;  .God  makes  much  of  graces. 
The  world  glorifies  gifts ;  many  times 
God  mortihes  them.  God  uses  graces 
more  than  gifts.  There  was  the  Co- 
rinthian Church  ;  it  abounded  in 
gifts,  but  it  was  sadly  deficient  in 
graces.  Some  of  the  very  best  and 
most  effective  ministers  that  I  have 
ever  kno"«Ti  were  distinguished  more 
by  their  graces  than  by  their  gifts, 
and  common  people,  in  describing 
them,  would  very  often  say,  "  Well, 
he  is  not  much  of  a  preacher,  but  he 
is  a  most  excellent  man."  Now,  let 
us  see,  as  teachers,  that  we  have  the 
Christian  graces  in  active  exercise. 
Let  us  see  that  we  be  holy  persons 
before  those  whom  we  teach. — Rev. 
John  Hall. 

487.  Conversions  more  frequent 
than  supposed. — Tell  us  not  that 
oonversions  among  cliildren  are  rare ; 
tell  us  not  that  appearances  often 
deceive,  and  that  the  versatility  of 
childhood  may  not  be  trusted;  tell 
us  not  that  now  is  the  seed  time, 
and  hereafter  we  shall  reap  the  har- 
vest. We  expect  not,  nay,  farther, 
we  lilvc  not  to  see,  in  the  babe  just 
able  to  lisp  its  Maker's  praise,  the 
full  corn  in  the  ear,  the  premature 
experience  of  advanced  life.  But 
we  do  expect  to  see  the  blossoms  of 
spring,  the  green  blade  shooting 
above  the  frozen  earth ;  we  do  ex- 
pect the  genuineness  of  piety  amid 
the  simplicity  of  childhood. — Davids. 

488.  Conversion  the  Need  of 
Hach. — Conversion  is  the  need  of 
every  soul,  of  the  rich  as  well  of  the 
poor.     Here  is  a  want  which  includes 


all.  Hence  the  Sabbath-school  seeks 
to  gather  into  its  fold  the  children 
of  all  classes.  IN'o  children  are  too 
high,  none  are  too  low,  to  be  beyond 
its  benefits.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  a 
large  part  of  those  now  converted 
to  God  and  brought  into  the  Church 
on  profession  of  their  faith,  come 
from  the  Sabbath-school.  At  a  State 
Sabbath-school  Convention,  in  Law- 
rence, Mass.,  the  question  being 
moved  with  a  view  to  bring  out 
this  significant  fact,  all  those  per- 
sons were  requested  to  rise  who  had 
been  converted  while  attending  Sab- 
bath-school. Almost  the  entire  as- 
sembly rose.  At  least  nine-tenths 
of  the  Convention  were  on  their  feet. 
—Dr.  Hart. 

489.  Association  of  Converted 
Scholars. — Mr.  Reynolds,  of  Peoria, 
111.,  ah'eady  referred  to,  says: — I 
have  in  connection  with  my  school 
a  society  called  "The  Faithful  Band." 
They  are  composed  of  the  scholars 
who  give  good  evidences  of  being 
"born  again."  They  meet  every 
Thiu'sday  evening  at  seven  o'clock, 
in  the  prayer  meeting-room  of  our 
church.  The  order  of  exercises  is 
about  as  follows: — 1.  Singing;  2. 
Prayer  by  the  leader — myself  or  the 
assistant  superintendent  always  leads 
the  meeting ;  3.  Reading  a  portion 
of  Scripture,  and  short  explanations ; 
4.  Singing,  after  which  the  meeting 
is  thrown  open  for  general  exercises 
by  the  children,  such  as  prayers, 
telling  experiences,  asking  prayer 
for  themselves  or  for  others,  telling 
what  they  have  been  doing  for  Jesus, 
&c.  I  have  the  part  of  the  city  in 
which  my  school  is  situated  districted 
off,  and  to  each  member  a  district  of 
one  or  two  squares,  or  blocks,  as- 
signed. It  is  the  duty  of  this  scho- 
lar to  visit  each  house  in  the  district 
once  a  month — I  give  them  Simday- 
school  papers  to  take  with  them — 
and  find    out  how  many    children 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WOELD. 


151 


there  are  in  their  respective  districts 
who  do  not  go  to  Sunday-school,  and 
to  try  and  get  them  to  attend  onr 
school,  or  some  other.  During  the 
week  they  do  this  work,  and  on  Sun- 
day go  after  and  bring  the  children 
with  them.  A  few  Sundays  ago  one 
member  of  our  "band"  brought  ten 
new  scholars  into  our  school.  At 
the  weekly  meeting  the  children  tell 
what  success  they  have  met  with, 
their  encouragements  and  discour- 
agements. It  teaches  them  how  to 
work,  and  when  they  get  to  be  men 
and  women  they  are  not  drones  in 
the  Church,  but  useful  members. 
"We  must  not  only  seek  to  have  the 
children  converted,  but  train  them 
aright  afterward,  or  they  will  go 
back  to  the  world  and  be  lost  to  the 
Church  and  Christ.  I  believe  in 
work  to  keep  the  heart  warm,  whe- 
ther in  Sunday-school  or  Church. — 
Reynolds. 


THE  SCHOLAR  IN   TRAINING. 

490.  Child  Culture. Imme- 
diately connected  with  conversion  is 
Christian  child  culture  and  training 
in  Bible  knowledge,  religious  habits 
and  service,  and  Christian  character. 
Oh,  how  important  it  is  for  child  or 
man  to  have  a  kind,  judicious  sym- 
pathising Christian  friend  at  hand  at 
every  step,  especially  in  the  first  year 
of  life  after  conversion,  to  inquire  and 
counsel  as  to  difficulties  and  dangers ! 
Secret  and  social  prayer,  the  regular 
study  of  the  "Word,  the  social  life  and 
habits,  the  reading,  the  associations, 
the  feelings,  the  imagination,  the 
judgment,  and  the  desire  and  ten- 
dencies all  want  watching,  counsel- 
ling, checking,  guarding,  or  instruct- 
ing by  one  who  is  tender,  candid, 
sincere,  and  true.  The  whole  life 
and  usefulness  much  depends  on  all 
this.  The  churches  of  Christ  ought 
all    to    be    such    training-fields    of 


Christian  culture,  but,  alas !  we  are 
sorry  to  confess  that  they  are  not 
generally  so,  and  consequently  fail 
in  this  their  great  work.  To  throw 
a  little  child,  with  only  a  spark  of 
grace  in  the  heart,  into  this  world 
of  wolves  of  temptation  and  error, 
with  no  one  to  watch  over,  counsel, 
and  guide,  oh,  it  is  sad  indeed,  and 
ought  to  excite  the  sympathy  and 
prayers  of  all  godly  people.  Let  us 
associate  and  band  Sunday  -  school 
workers  together  in  earnest,  in  this 
great  work  of  Christian  culture  and 
holy  living — in  little  prayer  meetings 
teaching  the  children  how  to  pray ; 
how  to  resist  temptation,  and  fight 
against  sin,  and  stand  up  for  Jesus ; 
how  to  overcome  bad  tempers  and 
feelings ;  how  to  cultivate  the  dis- 
interested missionary  spirit  of  the 
Gospel  in  caring  for  others,  and  doing 
good  to  others  as  we  have  opportu- 
nity. The  children,  lilte  young  trees 
from  the  nursery,  need  early  "  to  be 
planted  in  the  courts  of  the  Lord," 
if  we  would  have  them  to  grow  up 
comely  trees  of  righteousness. — Par- 
dee. 

491.  "No  Pains,  No  Gains."— 
Some  months  ago  a  book  was  ofiered 
to  every  scholar  in  our  Sabbath-school 
who  would  commit  the  Catechism  to 
memory  within  a  specified  time.  Two 
of  the  children,  and  these  amongst 
the  youngest  in  the  school,  were  re- 
cently rewarded  for  doing  what  the 
others  thought  it  not  worth  their 
while  to  do.  The  pains  would  be 
grecrter  than  the  gains,  all  concluded, 
except  one  little  girl  and  her  brother. 
These  two  scholars  have  found  that 
the  presents  they  received  are  not 
the  only  rewards  for  their  efibrts. 
Let  us  see  what  they  have  gained  by 
their  pains.  1.  They  have  acquired 
a  large  store  of  the  most  valuable 
knowledge.  They  are  able  to  answer 
questions  which  learned  men  of  the 
Church  regarded  as  the  most  import- 


152 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


ant  whicli  they  could  put  into  their 
Catechism.  One  day  one  of  these 
little  scholars  answered  a  question 
which  many  in  the  Sabbath-school, 
who  are  much  older,  could  not  answer. 
Her  mother  inquired  how  it  was  that 
she  could  answer  it  so  well.  She  re- 
plied that  she  had  obtained  her  know- 
ledge from  the  Catechism.  2.  The  study 
of  the  Catechism  has  afforded  exercis"e 
for  their  mental  powers.  Such  ex- 
ercise proved  a  great  benefit  to  them. 
3.^  They  have  the  satisfaction  of 
thinking  that  they  have  accomplished 
something— something  that  will  make 
the  summer  of  1867  quite  memorable. 
The  little  books  which  they  received 
as  rewards  will  remind  them  all 
through  life  of  their  undertaking 
when  Sabbath-school  children,  and 
of  their  triumph  over  the  difficulties 
which  discouraged  others.  One  of 
the  books,  the  one  given  to  the  little 
boy,  seemed  to  be  an  exceedingly  ap- 
propriate present,  as  it  was  entitled 
*'No  Pains,  no  Grains,"  and  as  it 
narrates  the  life  of  Samuel  Budgett, 
one  of  England's  noblest  Christians 
and  greatest  merchants,  who  began 
when  a  boy  to  regulate  his  life  by 
this  maxim.  This  most  interesting 
and  excellent  book  ought  to  be  in 
every  Sabbath-school  library. — H. 

492.  Begin  Early.— The  revered 
and  holy  Baxter  says,  ''  He  that  will 
train  up  children  for  God  must  begin 
betimes,  before  custom  increases  the 
depravity  of  theii-  nature  ;  no  means 
in  the  world  doth  more  effectually 
tend  to  the  happiness  of  souls  than 
a  holy  education,  for  it  boweth 
nature  while  it  is  yet  but  a  twig, 
and  delivereth  up  the  heart  to  Christ 
betimes." 

493.  Knowledge  a  good  thing.^ 
"  What  an  excellent  thing  is  know- 
ledge," said  a  sharp-looking,  bustling 
little  man  to  one  who  was  much 
older  than  himself.  ''  Knowledge  is 
an  excellent   thing,"   repeated  he: 


"My  boys  know  more   at  six  and 
seven  years  old  than  T  did  at  twelve. 
They  can  read  all  sorts  of  books,  and 
talk  on  all  sorts  of  subjects.     The 
world  is  a  great  deal  wiser  than  it 
used  to  be.     Everybody  knows  some- 
thing of  everything  now.     Do  you 
not  think.  Sir,  that  knowledge  is  an 
excellent  thing  ?  "     "  Why,   Sir," 
replied  the  old  man,  looking  gravely, 
' '  that  depends  entirely  on  the  use 
to  which  it  is  applied.     It  may  be  a 
blessing  or  a  curse.     Knowledge  is 
only  an  increase  of  power,  and  power 
may  be   a  bad    as  well   as  a  good 
thing."     "That  is  what    I   cannot 
understand,"  said  the  bustling  little 
man.     "How  can  power  be  a   bad 
thing  ? "     "I  will  tell  you,"  meekly 
replied  the  old  man,  and  thus  went  on: 
' '  When  the  power  of  a  horse  is  under 
restraint,  the  animal  is  useful  in  bear- 
ing burdens,  drawing  loads,  and  carry- 
ing his  master,  but  when  that  power 
is  um-estrained,  the  horse  breaks  his 
bridle,  dashes  to  pieces  the  carriage 
which  he  draws,  or  throws  his  rider." 
"I  see,  I  see,"  said  the  little  man. 
"When  the  water  of  a  large  pond 
is  properly  conducted  by  trenches,  it 
renders  the  fields  around  fertile,  but 
when  it  bursts  through  its  banks,  it 
sweeps   everything     before   it,    and 
destroys  the  produce  of  the  field." 
"I  see,  I  see,"  said  the  little  man, 
"I  see."     "When  a  ship  is  steered 
aright,  the  sail  that  she  hoists  up 
enables  her  the   sooner  to  get  into 
port;  but  if  steered  wrong,  the  more 
sail  she  carries  the  further  will  she 
go  out  of  her   course."     "I   see,  I 
see,"  said  the   little   man,    "I   see 
clearly."     "  Well,  then,"  continued 
the  old  man,  "  if  you  see  these  things 
so  clearly,  I  hope  that  you  can  see 
too    that   knowledge,  to  be  a  good 
thing,    must    be     rightly    applied. 
Cod's  grace  in  the  heart  will  render 
the  knowledge  of  the  head  a  blessing, 
but  without  this   it   may  prove   to 
us  no  better  than  a  curse."    ' '  I  see,  I 


STINDAT   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


153 


see,"  said  tlie  little  man,  ''  I  see." — 
Todd. 

494.  A  Good  Seed-time. — In 
one  of  those  weeks  of  last  August, 
when  day  after  day  the  sun  shone  so 
brightly,  ripening  late  corn,  and 
allowing  what  had  fallen  to  the 
sickle  to  be  got  in  in  such  excellent 
condition,  I  was  talking  with  a  farmer 
about  the  blessing  which  in  this  way 
Grod  was  daily  giving  to  the  country. 
He  was  quite  willing  to  agree  with 
me  in  what  I  said  as  to  the  value  of 
such  fine  weather,  *'for,  anyway,"  said 
he,  "  whether  the  crops  are  heavy  or 
light,  the  wheat  will  be  of  fine 
quality,  and  that  will  make  it  good 
for  the  eater,  whether  there  is 
quantity  enough  to  make  it  a  good 
harvest  for  the  grower  or  not.  But," 
he  added,  ' '  many  people  forget  that 
for  a  good  harvest  you  must  have  the 
right  weather  for  sowing  as  well  as 
for  reaping.  If  the  seed-time  is 
bad,  fine  harvest  weather  won't 
make  up  for  it.  Now  when  I  put 
my  seed  in,  last  'back-end,'  it  was 
so  wet  that  in  places  the  horses' 
feet  sank  into  the  ground  above  their 
hoofs,  and  the  consequence  is  my 
crops  are  but  very  light,  the  plants 
came  up  very  thinly,  and  looked 
weak ;  they  did  not  spread  out  when 
finer  weather  came,  but  seemed  all 
along  as  if  there  was  no  vigour  in 
them.  What  corn  there  is  is  good, 
but  there's  little  of  it ;  for  a  plentiful 
harvest  you  must  have  a  good  seed- 
time." I  added,  ''Yes,  the  people 
ought  to  be  as  thankful  for  fair 
weather  to  sow  in  as  for  fine 
weather  to  reap  in."  "Of  course," 
said  my  friend,  ' '  but  many  forget 
that." 

495.  The  Scholar  and  Public 
Worship. — So  far  as  I  have  been 
able  to  learn  from  the  English  reli- 
gious papers,  the  children  of  the 
Sabbath-schools  in  England  are  re- 
quired, sometimes  compelled,  to  at- 


tend the  church  service.  When  the 
school  closes,  the  classes  move  in  a 
body  into  the  church  with  their 
teachers.  This,  we  are  led  to  be- 
lieve, is  almost  the  universal  custom. 
Another  fact,  which  we  have  upon 
the  same  authority,  is  that  the  great 
mass  of  these  children,  after  arriving 
at  adult  age,  cease  their  attendance 
upon  church,  and  are  lost  sight  of. 
They  disappear  entirely  from  all  re- 
ligious circles.  It  would  seem  as  if 
the  great  majority  of  the  Sabbath- 
school  children  in  that  country  were 
of  the  poorer  classes,  such  as  in  this 
country  fill  mainly  our  mission- 
schools.  These  children  are  brought 
in  great  numbers  into  the  schools, 
and  wliile  there  attend  church,  but 
at  an  early  age,  say  thirteen  or  four- 
teen, they  drop  off  both  fi'om  school 
and  church,  and  are  heard  of  no  more 
in  connection  with  religious  services 
or  institutions.  That  is,  the  Sab- 
bath-school does  not  succeed  to  the 
extent  that  its  friends  wish  and  aim, 
in  bringing  any  considerable  body 
of  the  population  permanently  into 
the  Chiistian  Church.  There  are,  of 
course,  many  exceptions  to  this  fact. 
It  could  not  be  otherwise  from  the 
very  nature  of  the  Sabbath-school. 
But  that  such  has  been  the  general 
result  of  Sabbath-school  operations 
in  England  seems  to  be  admitted  by 
the  friends  of  the  cause.  Their  chil- 
dren do  not,  as  a  general  thing,  grow 
up  into  a  permanent  part  of  the  con- 
gregation. Many  reasons  have  been 
assigned  for  this.  The  chief  are 
these  two.  First,  the  services  in 
the  churches  which  they  are  com- 
pelled to  attend  are  distasteful  to 
them.  These  services  are  adapted 
entirely  to  adults.  They  are  as 
unintelligible  to  the  children  as  ^  if 
conducted  in  Hebrew  or  Latin. 
Secondly,  the  children,  while  in  the 
church,  are  made  as  thoroughly  un- 
comfortable as  crowding,  hard  seats, 
and  semi-sufibcalion  can  well  make 


154 


Sm\DAY    SCHOOL   WOELD. 


them.  Of  course,  as  soon  as  they  are 
old  enough  to  escape  from  parental 
restraint,  and  to  act  for  themselves, 
they  leave  for  ever  a  place  which  is 
to  them  a  scene  of  no  pleasant  recol- 
lections.— Dr.  Hart. 


496. 


-If  children  do  not  begin 


early  to  attend  church,  when  shall 
they  begin?  Shall  it  be  at  twelve 
years,  or  thirteen,  or  iifteen ;  and, 
if  you  fix  it  at  twelve  or  fifteen,  will 
it  be  easier  then  to  form  the  habit 
than  it  would  be  at  five,  or  eight,  or 
ten  ?  In  a  certain  church  in  a  New 
England  town,  where  for  years  the 
parents  and  teachers  have  been  urged 
to  see  that  the  children  of  all  ages 
attend  at  least  one  preaching  service 
upon  Sabbath,  as  well  as  the  Sabbath- 
school,  there  has  been  a  large  increase 
of  the  church  membership  from  the 
Sabbath- school.  In  another  society 
of  a  difierent  denomination,  in  the 
same  town,  where  the  childi-en  sel- 
dom or  never  go  to  church,  the  ac- 
cessions to  the  church  from  the  school 
have  been  few.  Habit  rules  with 
power  in  the  young  as  well  as  in  the 
old  heart.  The  girl  who,  from  the 
time  she  enters  the  infant  class  to 
the  day  of  her  graduating  into  the 
Bible  class,  has  been  excused  from 
attending  church  service  has  really 
no  inclination  to  attend,  and  it  will 
require  efibrt  almost  superhuman  to 
persuade  her.  One  of  the  teachers 
belonging  to  the  Sabbath- school  in 
connection  with  Mr.  Spurgeon's 
church,  in  a  printed  record  of  obser- 
vation extending  over  fifteen  years, 
states  that  it  is  best  for  children 
to  be  taken  to  church  when  quite 
young,  no  matter  though  they  may 
not  understand  all  that  the  minister 
says,  and  no  matter  if  now  and  then 
they  even  go  to  sleep.  Here  is  where 
the  Churches  lose  power.  The  chil- 
dren have  gone  to  Sabbath- school, 
and  then,  from  one  consideration  or 
another,  have  not  been  required  to 


attend  the  preaching,  and  so,  by  the 
habit  ought  to  have  been  formed,  the 
opposite  has  found  firm  footing. — 
House. 


EAELY  PIETY. 

497.  A  Child's  Wants.— It  is  a 
fact  that  should  never  be  forgotten, 
that  the  children,  even  the  little 
children,  of  our  Christian  families 
and  Sunday-schools,  all  want  to  be 
Christians  more  than  they  want  any- 
thing else.  Little  ones  of  five  or  six 
years  tell  us  that  they  wet  their 
pillows  night  after  night  with  tears 
of  sorrow  for  sin,  and  they  long  for 
some  one  to  lead  them  to  Jesus,  more 
than  all  earthly  longings.  Such  is 
the  testimony  of  devoted  ministers 
and  Christian  ladies  in  great  numbers, 
and  many  of  us  can  realise  it  all,  most 
bitterly,  if  we  will  only  recall  our 
early  childhood,  and  live  that  over 
again.  Said  one  little  girl  of  four 
summers :  ' '  Mamma,  I  should  think 
that  anybody  that  knows  Jesus  would 
love  Him.^^  This  is  the  feeling  of 
properly- trained  children  in  great 
numbers.  They  want  pure,  simple 
instruction  as  to  who  Jesus  Christ  is, 
and  what  He  is  to  them. — Pardee. 

498.  Gant. — Little  children  can 
feel  what  they  cannot  express.  We 
do  not  desire  they  should  talk  about 
loving  God — but  love  ;  not  talk  about 
believing — but  believe.  If  a  habit 
of  making  caiiting  observations  is 
encouraged,  the  mostnaughty  children 
will  often  converse  as  if  they  were 
experienced  Christians. — Davids. 

499.  Childhood  Piety. — We  are 
apt  to  forget  that  a  child  does  not 
cease  to  be  a  child  after  the  tender 
embrace  of  the  loving  Saviour  any 
more  than  an  adult  Christian  ceases 
to  be  a  man.  We  retain  our  in- 
dividuality in  the  Christian  sphere. 


StrifDAY   SCHOOL  WOELD. 


155 


A  Christian  boy  might  shock  the 
notions  of  some  of  his  seniors  in  the 
faith  were  he  to  he  detected  climbing 
a  tree  or  leaping  a  ditch,  and  a 
Christian  girl  woiild  provoke  the 
frown,  perhaps,  of  some  maidenly 
aunt  were  she  to  confess  to  a  love  for 
dolls,  and  skipping-ropes,  and  a  romp 
on  the  lawn ;  but  they  might  be  good 
Christians  notwithstanding.  A  man 
does  not  forfeit  his  title  to  be  a 
Christian  by  his  attention  to  busi- 
ness, neither  should  a  child  by  his 
devotion  to  his  plays.  The  transition 
from  the  family  altar  to  a  game  at 
cricket  is  not  greater  to  a  child  than 
the  transition  to  the  counting-house 
or  the  shop  is  to  an  adult.  It  is  most 
unnatural,  and  the  result  will  be 
pernicious,  to  frown  down  a  love  of 
play  in  a  child  as  being  inimical  to 
Christianity.  A  child  may  be  a 
Christian  without  being  able  to  define 
the  precise  moment  when  his  affec- 
tions found  rest  in  Christ.  But  many 
little  ones  have  been  frowned  back  by 
some  injudicious  deacon  because  they 
have  not  been  able  to  tell  when  they 
first  passed  from  the  twilight  of  the 
artless  simplicity  of  chilcLhood  into 
the  full  sunlight  of  Christianity. — 
Charlesworth. 

500.  Signs  of  Early  Piety.— 
The  signs  of  a  renewed  heart  that  we 
like  to  see  in  a  little  child  are,  great 
simplicity  and  strength  of  faith ; 
delight  in  pricate  prayer  and  in  read- 
ing the  Scriptures  ;  anxiety  for  the 
souls  of  those  around  them ;  prompt 
obedience  to  parents ;  diligent  atten- 
tion to  their  studies ;  and  an  habitual 
struggling  against  sin.  We  do  not 
believe  that  a  pious  child  can  hahitu- 
ally  be  either  idle  or  disobedient. 
They  may  not  be  talented,  but  they 
will  he  plodde7's  ;  they  may  not  love 
school,  but  they  will  fulfil  conscien- 
tiously the  duties  of  a  school  life. 
Few  children  of  ungodly  imrents^ 
even  if  trained  in  a  Sabbath- school,  i 


will  act  as  if  they  loved  God  unless 
they  really  do  so;  but  the  germ  of 
piety  may  remain  long  concealed  from 
observation,  growing  silently,  "un- 
seen to  public  view."  In  children 
carefully  taught  by  pious  parents, 
there  is  greater  danger  of  fostering 
pride  and  hypocrisy,  of  resting  satis- 
fied without  a  real  change  of  heart, 
and  trusting  to  evidences  which  are 
simply  the  effect  of  education.  We 
place  but  little  reliance  on  freedom 
from  gross  sins,  such  as  lying  and 
passion,  or  on  loving  the  Sabbath  and 
the^  house  of  God ;  and  we  think  it 
positively  a  sign  of  an  unsanctified 
heart  when  children  ape  the  manners 
of  their  elders,  avoid  play,  and 
assume  what  is  not  natural  to  their 
age  and  habits.  Xo  one  rule,  how- 
ever, can  be  laid  down  for  all  cases. 
Teachers  must  judge  and  act  with 
holy  caution. — Davids. 

501.  Little  Children  can  Believe, 
&c. — "Little  children!"  they  can 
believe  and  love  as  weR  as  others ; 
that  is  the  main  thing.  By  their 
lives  and  in  their  deaths  they  may 
show,  no  less  strikingly  than  those 
older,  that  Christ  is  in  them  the  hope 
of  glory;  that  He  is  to  them  more 
than  father  or  mother.  ' '  In  Jesus' 
words,  '  Suffer  little  children  to  come 
unto  me,  and  forbid  them  not,' 
does  *  come  unto  me '  mean  dying, 
mamma ;  leaving  you,  and  going 
away  ?  "  asked  a  little  child. 
"  Don't  you  love  and  think  a  great 
deal  about  your  papa  when  he  is 
away?"  said  her  niother.  "Yes, 
mamma;  I  feel  full  of  papa  some- 
times," answered  Jessie,  "I  love  him 
so  dearly."  "It  is  not  necessary  to 
see  him  and  be  with  him  to  love 
him."  "No,  mamma;  for  he  is  in 
my  heart  really,"  said  the  little  girl. 
' '  That  is  what  the  Lord  Jesus  means 
when  He  asks  you  to  come  Him.  It 
is  not  to  go  where  He  is,  in  body ; 
but  it  is  to  love  Him,  to  have  your 


156 


STJXDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


heart  full  of  Him,  that  makes  Him 
near  to  you  and  you  near  to  Him. 
And  it  is  so  sweet  to  come  to  Him, 
for  He  forgives  our  sins,  and  takes 
away  our  naughty  wilfulness,  and 
helps  us  to  correct  our  faults,  and 
makes  us  love  to  do  right,  and  love 
each  other  and  everybody."  "  Then 
I  want  to  come  to  Jesus ;  I  wasn't 
quite  ready  to  leave  you  and  papa," 
whispered  the  child.  ''  If  Jessie 
hnds  Jesus,  Jessie  will  be  willing  to 
do  His  will,  whatever  it  may  be," 
said  the  mother,  with  a  prayer  in 
her  heart  that  hers  might  be  one  of 
the  little  ones  in  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.  Another  very  little  girl 
had  been  early  taken  to  church,  and 
taught  to  behave  reverently  there. 
She  was  told  that  public  worship  is 
appointed  by  God,  and  that  she  must 
attend  seriously  to  its  several  parts. 
So  she  would  fix  her  eyes  on  the 
preacher,  and  listen  to  all  he  said, 
though  able  to  understand  but  little. 
Once  a  smile  of  joy  was  observed  to 
pass  over  her  expressive  face ;  her 
eyes  grew  bright,  and  her  lips  parted 
as  if  to  speak.  In  the  midst  of  his 
discourse  the  minister  had  repeated 
the  Saviour's  invitation,  "  Suffer 
little  children  to  come  unto  me,  and 
forbid  them  not."  She  had  learned 
this  passage  by  heart  in  her  infancy  ; 
but  with  the  voice  of  the  clergyman 
whom  she  revered,  it  came  to  her 
with  special  force.  It  was  like  an 
old  friend  in  a  new  garment.  Hast- 
ening home  to  her  mother,  who  had 
been  detained  by  indisposition,  she 
threw  her  arms  around  her  neck, 
exclaiming,  "  0,  mamma !  dear 
mamma!  I  have  heard  to-day  the 
child's  gospel!"  A  little  son  of 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Cadogan,  friend  and 
correspondent  of  John  Newton,  was 
being  carried  by  his  father  in  his 
arms,  as  he  walked  to  and  fro  in  the 
room.  The  head  of  the  youg  sufferer 
rested  on  his  shoulder.  It  had  be- 
come evident  that  death  drew  near. 


Breathing  with  much  difficulty,  he 
raised  his  head  by  a  great  effort,  and, 
looking  up  in  his  father's  face,  said, 
"  That  was  a  sweet  saying,  was  it 
not  ?"  "  What  saying,  my  child  ?'^ 
*'  Why, '  Suffer  little  children  to  come 
unto  Me,  and  forbid  them  not ;  for  of 
such  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven,' " 
replied  the  child.  So  saying,  he  laid 
down  his  head  again  upon  his  father's 
shoulder,  and  died !  ' '  When  I  was 
at  Dhoas,"  writes  a  missionary's  wife, 
my  husband  opened  the  new  chapel, 
which  holds  one  hundred  and  fifty 
people.  Sixty-five  persons  were  bap- 
tised ;  among  the  rest  several  women. 
I  proposed  meeting  them  alone  on 
Tuesday  evening.  One  very  nice- 
looking  woman  had  a  sweet-looking 
girl  at  her  side,  about  ten  years  old. 
I  said,  '  Amah,  would  you  like  me  to 
teach  your  daughter  f '  With  an  in- 
describable look  of  tenderness  she 
drew  her  to  her  side,  and  putting  her 
arm  around  her,  said,  *  This  is  my 
only  one.'  '  Have  you  not  had  more 
children  ? '  I  asked.  '  Ah  1  yes, 
ma'am,  I  have  had  six,  but  they  are 
dead.  Yes,  they  all  died,  five  of 
them,  one  after  the  other;  they  all 
died.'  '  And  you,  poor  thing,  how 
sorry  you  must  have  been  ! '  '  Heigh- 
ho  !  how  sorry !  Too  much  trouble 
I  took  ;  too  much  expense.  After  the 
first  died  I  took  sacrifices  to  the 
temple,  and  made  worship  to  the 
idol,  and  told  him  I  would  give  him 
all  I  could  if  my  second  might  live  ; 
but  he  died.  Then  my  heart  was  very 
sore  ;  and  when  my  third  came,  I 
went  to  a  guru,  and  took  a  cloth,  and 
fowl,  and  rice ;  and  he  said  mun- 
trums,  and  made  pujah  (worship) ; 
but  no,  that  child,  he  died.  My 
heart  was  like  fire,  it  burned  so  with 
sorrow.  I  was  almost  mad  ;  and  yet 
I  tried  some  fresh  ceremony  for  every 
child.'  '  What  did  you  think  had 
become  of  the  spirits  of  your  chil- 
dren?' I  asked.  'You  knew  their 
bodies  died,  but  did  you  think  much 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WOELD. 


157 


of  their  spirits  ? '  '  Ah !  that  was 
the  thing  that  almost  made  me  mad. 
I  did  not  know.  I  thought  perhaps 
one  devil  took  one  and  another  took 
another  ;  or  perhaps  they  were  gone 
into  some  bird,  or  beast,  or  something, 
I  did  not  know ;  and  I  used  to  think 
and  think  till  my  heart  was  too  full 
of  sorrow.'  '  But,  Amah,'  I  replied, 
*  you  do  not  look  sorry  now.'  With  a 
look  almost  sublime,  she  said,  *  Sorry 
now  !  Oh,  no !  no  !  Why,  I  know 
now  where  my  children  are.  They 
are  with  Jesus.  I  have  learned  that 
Jesus  said,  '  Suffer  little  children  to 
come  unto  Me.'  My  sorrow  is  all 
gone,  and  I  can  bear  their  not  being 
with  me.  They  are  happy  with  Him, 
and,  after  a  little  while,  I  shall  go  to 
Him  too,  and  this  little  girl,  my 
Julia,  and  my  husband  too.'"  Mr. 
Gray  had  not  long  been  minister  of 
the  parish  before  he  noticed  the  odd 
practice  of  the  gravedigger  ;  and 
one  day  when  he  came  upon  John 
smoothing  and  trimming  the  lonely 
bed  of  a  child  which  had  been  buried 
a  few  days  before,  he  asked  why  he 
was  so  particular  in  dressing  and 
keeping  the  graves  of  infants.  John 
paused  for  a  moment  at  his  work, 
and  looking  up,  not  at  the  minister, 
but  at  the  sky,  said,  ' '  Of  such  is  the 
kingdom  of  heaven."  "  And  on  this 
account  you  tend  and  adorn  them 
with  so  much  care,"  remarked  the 
minister,  who  was  greatly  struck 
with  the  reply.  "  Surely,  Sir," 
answered  John,  ''  I  canna  mak'  ower 
braw  and  fine  the  bed- covering  o'  a 
little  innocent  sleeper  that  is  waitin' 
there  till  it  is  God's  time  to  wauken 
it,  and  cover  it  with  white  robe,  and 
waft  it  away  to  glory.  Where  sic 
grandeur  is  awaitin'  it  yonder,  it's  fit 
it  should  be  decked  oot  here.  I  think 
the  Saviour  will  like  to  see  white 
clover  spread  abune  it ;  dae  ye  no 
think  sae  tae,  sir  ?"  "  But  why  not 
thus  cover  larger  graves  ?"  asked 
the  minister,  hardly  able  to  suppress 


his  emotions.  "  The  dust  of  all  His 
saints  is  precious  in  the  Saviour's 
sight."  "  Very  true,  Sir,"  responded 
John,  with  great  solemnity,  ' '  but  I 
canna  be  sure  wha  are  His  saints, 
and  wha  are  no.  I  hope  thear  are 
many  o'  them  lyin'  in  this  kirkyard ; 
but  it  wad  be  great  presumption  to 
mark  them  oot.  Thear  are  some  that 
I'm  gey  sure  aboot,  and  I  keep  their 
graves  as  nate  and  snod  as  I  can,  and 
plant  a  bit  floure  here  and  thear  as  a 
sign  of  my  hope,  but  daerna'  gie 
them  the  white  shirt,"  referring  to 
the  white  clover.  "It's  clean  diffe- 
rent, though,  wi'  the  bairns." — From 
"  Seeds  a7id  Sheaves,^^  hy  Dr.  A.  C, 
Thompson. 

502.  The  Eeligions  Experience 
of  Children. — It  is  a  common  and 
hurtful  error  among  the  people  of 
God,  that  which  leads  them  to 
undervalue,  or  make  little  account 
of,  the  religious  experience  of  little 
children.  It  is  an  old  error,  and 
very  hard  to  eradicate  from  the 
mind.  It  led  the  first  disciples  to 
forbid,  and  try  to  exclude  from  the 
presence  of  the  Lord,  those  parents 
who  were  bringing  their  infants  to 
Him  that  He  might  lay  His  hands  on 
them  and  bless  them.  They  thought 
that  the  great  Master  had  something 
of  more  importance  to  do,  and  that 
I  He  ought  not  to  be  troubled  or  de- 
I  layed  with  so  trivial  a  matter  as  that 
of  blessing  little  children,  who  could 
not  know  what  it  meant,  and  who 
therefore  could  derive  little  or  no  bene- 
!  fit  fromit.  Butour  Jesustook  a  wholly 
diflerent  view  of  the  matter.  He 
was  much  displeased,  and  rebulvcd 
His  disciples,  as  if  they  were  the 
ones  who  did  not  know  what  they 
were  about,  and  said  to  them,  "  Suffer 
the  little  children  to  come  unto  me, 
and  forbid  them  not,  for  of  such  is 
the  kingdom  of  God;"  and  else- 
where, "Except  ye  be  converted, 
and  become  as    little    children,   ye 


158 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


shall  not  enter  into  the  Idngdom  of 
heaven."  In  these  words  onr  hlessed 
Saviour  teaches  ns  in  the  plainest 
manner  that  children  are  more 
susceptible  of  the  experiences  of 
saving  faith  than  grown  persons. 
This  surely  is  a  revealed  truth  which, 
if  it  were  believed  and  fully  appre- 
ciated, would  go  far  to  revolutionize 
the  methods  and  operations  which 
now  prevail  in  the  Church  for  the 
evangelization  of  the  world.  Let  us 
endeavour,  then,  to  appreciate  its 
significance  by  means  of  such  con- 
siderations as  the  following : — 

I.  From  the  nature  of  saving 
faith.  The  expectation  that  children 
are  to  grow  up  in  irreligion,  or  at 
least  in  an  uni'egenerate  state,  until 
they  come  to  the  years  of  moral 
accountability,  and  then  be  con- 
verted, which  now  so  generally  pre- 
vails, rests  mainly  upon  a  practical , 
misconception  of  the  nature  of  saving 
faith.  For  it  is  not  uncommonly 
supposed  that  such  faith  consists  in, 
or  at  least  implies,  a  pretty  full 
and  accurate  knowledge  of  the 
doctrines  which  systematic  theology 
has  drawn  out  of  the  Scriptures, 
and  laid  down  in  our  confessions  of 
faith,  catechisms,  &c.  But  whilst 
these  must  not  be  undervalued,  it 
is  certain  that  saving  faith  does  not 
consist  in  the  belief  of  doctrines ; 
nor  does  it  imply  very  full  know- 
ledge of  doctrinal  truth  as  such. 
We  need  no  other  proof  of  this 
than  the  ignorance  of  doctrine  mani- 
fested by  the  Apostles  previous  to 
the  death  and  resurrection  of  the 
Lord.  For  they  did  not  even  know 
that  he  was  to  die  for  them.  Con- 
sequently they  were  ignorant  of  the 
doctrine  of  the  Atonement,  which 
is  in  truth  the  most  fundamental 
principle  of  the  Gospel.  How  little 
they  knew  of  other  doctrines  may 
be  inferred  from  that.  Yet  he  would 
be  a  bold  man  who  would  take 
the  ground  that  they  were  not  true 


Christians — that  if  they  had  died 
they  would  have  gone  to  hell.  For 
they  certainly  believed  in  Christ ; 
and  the  Lord  assured  Peter  upon 
confession  of  his  faith,  that  it  was 
such  that  nothing  but  the  power 
of  God  could  have  wrought  it  in 
his  heart.  Saving  faith  then  con- 
sists in  a  simple  personal  and  heart- 
trust  in  Christ,  that  He  is  all 
that  He  claims  to  be ;  but  it  may 
be  accompanied  with  very  little 
knowledge  of  what  He  actually  does 
claim  to  be.  This  may  be  learned 
afterward,  and  indeed  can  hardly 
be  learned  before  in  any  efiectual 
manner.  For  it  is  this  personal 
trust  in  Christ  which  leads  to  the 
true  knowledge  and  belief  of  the 
doctrines.  "We  believe  that  Christ 
died  for  us,  because  He  tells  us  so, 
and  we  believe  in  Him.  "We 
believe  that  His  death  is  an  all- 
sufficient  and  accepted  atonement 
for  our  sins,  because  He  tells  us  so, 
and  we  believe  in  Him.  Thus  it 
is  that  we  come  to  the  true  know- 
ledge and  belief  of  all  the  doctrines 
of  His  "Word.  If  now  this  view  of 
saving  faith  in  its  relation  to  the 
belief  of  doctrines  prevaiied,  we 
would  not  expect  children  to  grow 
up  without  it.  All  our  teaching 
would  have  for  its  immediate  object 
to  call  forth  the  exercise  of  trust 
in  Christ ;  and  we  should  expect  to 
see  the  children  exercising  it  in  their 
very  earliest  years;  for  manifestly 
the  exercise  of  trust  is  one  of  the 
very  first  things  of  which  the  infant 
mind  is  capable. 

IL  From  the  sijnpUcity  which 
belongs  to  little  children.  The 
greatest  hindrance  to  the  exercise 
of  simple  trust  in  Christ  is  that 
subtlety,  or  want  of  simplicity  of 
mind,  into  which  we  grow  up  as 
naturally  as  we  breathe.  This,  as 
nearly  as  possible,  is  the  opposite 
of  faith.  It  is  that  double-minded- 
ness  which  wavereth  like  a  wave  of 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


159 


tlie   sea,    and  which  cannot  ask  in 
prayer  so  as  to  receive  anything  from 
God.      The   reason   of  this   is   that 
it    employs    itself    in     raising     up 
obstacles   to   faith.     It   always   sees 
some   hindrance  to  the   exercise   of 
trust.     It  was   this  which  led  the 
children  of  Israel  to  believe  the  un- 
believing spies,  when  they  reported 
those   giants   and   walled   towns   to 
prevent  them  from  taking  possession 
of  their  promised  land,  although  those 
giants   and   walled  towns  had  been 
all  given  into    their    hands.     This 
double-mindedness    lays  impractical 
conditions    upon    all    the   promises. 
When  Jesus  says,  "Come  unto  me, 
all  ye   that    labour   and  are  hea^y 
laden,   and  I   will  give   you  rest," 
it  replies,   "I   am  afraid  I   do   not 
labour,  or  am  not  heavy  laden  enough ; 
or   that    I    do    not    come     aright." 
When  He  says,  "Ask,  and  ye  shall 
receive,"  it  replies,  "  I  am  afraid  I  do 
not   ask   in  faith,"  just   as  if  this 
promise  were  not  given  to  awaken 
faith.       Thus     it    deals     with     all 
the     promises     and     invitations   of 
the    Gospel,     and     thereby    renders 
them   all  inapplicable  and  unavail- 
able.    Now,  Httle  children,  in  their 
simplicity,      are     free     from    these 
difficulties.       They     easily     believe 
that  the  Lord  is  altogether  as  good 
as  He   says   He  is ;  that   He   is   as 
ready  to  give  them  what  they  ask 
as»  He  says  He   is ;    that  His  pro- 
mises are  not  encumbered  with  im- 
practicable    conditions  ;      that     He 
always   means  just  what   He  says ; 
that  He  loves  them  as  well  as  He 
says   He   does;    and   that   salvation 
is  as  free  to  them  as   He   says  it 
is.      Thus  they    perceive    in    their 
Saviour    a    sweetness    and    tender- 
ness,   a  loveliness    and    attraction, 
by    which    their     trust     and     love 
are   won,    and    all    their    affections 
engaged. 

III.  From    the    relation  of  little 
children  to  their  parents.     Children 


are  born  in  the  relation  of  the  most 
perfect   dependence  upon  their  pa- 
rents.     Their    natural    helplessness 
teaches  them  to  depend  upon  their 
parents   for   everything;    and    their 
constant  experience  of  the  parents' 
watchfulness,  tenderness,  and  love, 
naturally  awakens  trust  and  love  in 
return.  Their  infant-life  is  nourished 
and   formed  in  the  bosom  of  these 
affections.       Hence    they   naturally 
believe  that  their  parents  are  wiser 
than  they  are,  and  able  to  do  any- 
thing for    them.     They    know    by 
experience    that    the   ears   of_  their 
parents  are  always  open  to  their  cry. 
Their  constant  experience  of  obtain- 
ing answers  to  their  requests  moulds 
their  minds  into  that  form  in  which 
we  must  all  be  in  order  to  pray  in 
faith.     As   soon,   therefore,  as  they 
are  capable  of  being  instructed  that 
God  is  their  heavenly  Father,  it  is 
easy  for  them  to  exercise  trust  and 
love  towards  Him.     All  their  present 
experience    of    the    love    of     their 
parents   enables  them  to  appreciate 
the  love   of  God    and  the   love   of 
Christ   with    a    peculiar    freshness. 
They  find  no  difiiculty  in  believing 
that  God  loves  them  as  tenderly  as 
their  own  parents  do ;   and  that  He 
is  as  ready  to  give  them  what  they 
ask  as  their  own  parents  are  ;  and  His 
love,  thus  shed  abroad  in  their  hearts, 
awakens  love  in  return.     There  can 
be  no  doubt  but  that  the  experiences 
which  little  children  often  enjoy  of 
the  love  of  their  Saviour  are  more 
full  and  rich,  more  truly  Christian, 
than  any  that  are  ever  vouchsafed, 
except  to  the  most  advanced  Chris  - 
tians. 

lY.  From  the  manifestations  of 
Christian  experience  in  little  chil- 
dren. Perhaps  there  are  few  Chris- 
tian mothers  who  have  been  at  all 
faithful,  who  have  not  often  wit- 
nessed such  exercises  in  their  little 
children  that,  if  they  had  taken 
place  at  a  more  advanced  age,  would 


160 


STJNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


have  been  regarded  as  all-sufficient 
evidences  of  true  piety.   The  answers 
to  prayer  which  such  children  often 
obtain     are   more  remarkable   than 
those  of  after  life.     It  is  true,  these 
evidences    of    saving  grace   are   ac- 
companied with  much  that  is   of  a 
contrary  character.      But  this  is  to 
be  explained  by  the  fact  that  little 
children  act  out  all  that  is  in  them ; 
and   if  grown  people  did  the  same, 
without    feeling    the    necessity    of 
being     consistent    from    prudential 
motives,  perhaps  it  would  be  more 
difficult  to  believe  in  the  piety  of  the 
best  Christians  than  it  is  in  that  of 
little  children.  Also,  it  is  undeniable 
that  after  such  experiences  children 
often  fall  back  as  they  grow  older, 
and  live  in  sin  for   a  time,  or  are 
never  recovered.     But  this  is  to  be 
explained  by  the  fact  that  we  take 
every  little  waywardness  as  evidence 
that    they    have  never  experienced 
a  change  of  heart,  and  go  on  teaching 
them  that  they  have  yet  to  be  con- 
verted  at   some   future    time,    thus 
pulling  them  back,  so  to  speak,  into 
conscious  alienation  from  God,  and 
leading  them   into  sin.     If,  on  the 
contrary,    they   were  encouraged  to 
trust  in   their    Saviour,  multitudes 
of  them  would  grow  up  in  piety,  who 
now  fall  away  and  perish  in  their 
sins.    This  failure  to  appreciate  the 
religious  experience  of  little  children, 
it  is  believed,  is  that    great  offence 
by  which  they  are  caused  to  offend, 
and  in  view    of    which    the    Lord 
pronounced  the  great  woe  upon  those 
who  should  be  guilty  of  it,   saying, 
* '  Woe   unto  the  world,    because   of 
offences !  for  it  must  needs  be  that 
offences  come  ;  but  woe  to  that  man 

by  whom  the  offence  cometh 

"Whoso  shall  offend  one  of  these 
little  ones  which  believe  in  me,  it 
were  better  for  him  that  a  millstone 
were  hanged  about  his  neck,  and 
that  he  were  drowned  in  the  depth 
of  the  sea." 


503.  Examples  of  Early  Piety. — 
In  Butler's  "Lives  of  the  Saints," 
such  remarks  as  follow  may  be  found 
almost  in  every  page : — 

' '  Honorius  in  his  youth  renounced 
the  worship  of  idols,  and  gained  his 
elder  brother  to  Christ,  though  his 
fond  pagan  father  put  continual  ob- 
stacles in  his  way." 

"  The  martyr  Yinent  was  appointed, 
when  very  young,  to  preach  and  in- 
struct the  people." 

"  The  great  Theodoret,  from  his 
cradle,  was  a  child  of  grace :  he  was 
educated  in  every  true  branch  of 
Syi'ian,  Greek,  and  Hebrew  learning, 
and  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Cy- 
prus when  very  young." 

'■ '  Odilo,  Abbot  of  Cluni — '  divine 
grace  inclined  him,  from  his  infancy, 
to  devote  himself  to  God,  with  his 
whole  heart.' " 

"  From  her  infancy  she  imbibed 
the  love  of  virtue,  and,  in  her  tender 
years,  consecrated  herself  to  God." — 
Syncletica,  born  at  Alexandiia. 

' '  At  ten  years  of  age  he  was  placed 
in  the  court  of  Charlemagne,  where 
his  application  to  the  exercises  of  de- 
votion, his  serious  studies,  and  emi- 
nent piety,  gained  him  much  esteem." 
— Aldric,  Bishop  of  Mens. 

"  William  Berringer,  Bishop  of 
Bourges,  born  1209,  learned  from 
his  infancy  to  despise  the  folly  and 
emptiness  of  the  riches  and  grandeiu' 
of  this  world,  to  abhor  its  pleasures, 
and  to  tremble  at  its  dangers.  His 
only  delight  was  in  exercises  of  piety, 
and  in  his  studies." 

' '  From  his  childhood  he  served 
God." — Marcium,in  the  fifth  century 

* '  Theodosius  imbibed  the  first 
tincture  of  piety  from  the  fervent 
example  and  earnest  instructions  of 
his  parents." 

"  Yeeonica,  1497. — Her  parents 
were  poor,  but  very  pious ;  their  fer- 
vent, simple  instructions  were  not 
lost ;  she  loved  prayer,  and  the  im- 
portant truths  of  religion  engrossed 


ST7ITDAY    SCHOOL   WOELD. 


161 


her  whole  soul  from  her  infancy ; 
yet  she  was,  of  all  others,  the  most 
diligent  and  indefatigable  in  labour, 
and  so  obedient  to  her  parents  and 
masters,  so  humble  and  submissive 
to  her  equals,  that  she  seemed  to  i 
have  no  will  of  her  own ;  when  weed-  ' 
ing,  reaping,  or  at  any  other  labour 
in  the  fields,  she  sought  to  be  alone, 
that  she  might  converse  in  her  heart 
with  God.  In  order  to  qualify  her- 
self for  a  religious  life,  after  being 
busied  the  whole  day  at  work,  she 
sat  up  at  night  to  learn  to  read  and 
write." 

'  *  Paul,  the  first  hermit,  lost  bothhis 
parents  when  but  fifteen,  but  he  was, 
even  at  that  age,  a  great  proficient 
in  the  Greek  and  Egyptian  learning, 
was  mild  and  modest,  and  had  feared 
God  from  his  earliest  youth." 

' '  Henry,  from  his  infancy,  gave 
himseK  to  the  Divine  service,  "ssdth 
his  whole  heart." 

"Antony  was  remarkable  in  his 
childhood  for  close  attention  to  reli- 
gious duties,  and  a  punctual  obedi- 
ence to  his  parents." 

"  Lorner,  in  his  childhood,  kept 
his  father's  sheep,  and  spent  much 
time  in  studies  and  prayer." 

"Agnes  was  only  thirteen  years 
of  age  when  beheaded  for  the  sake 
of  Christ." 

*'  Polycarp,  Bishop  of  Smyrna, 
embraced  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ 
very  young,  saying,  when  called  to 
die  a  martyr's  death,  '  that  he  had 
served  Christ  eighty- six  years.'  " 

"  A  martyred  female,  at  eight 
j^ears  of  age,  consecrated  herseK  to 
God." 

"  The  genius  of  Chrysostom  shone 
in  every  branch  of  literature ;  but 
his  principal  care  was  to  study  Christ, 
and  learn." — From  Butler's  Lives  of 
Saints. 

504.  A  good  Sign. —  At  one 
anxious  season  in  1525,  when  the 
Protestant  divines  met  to  deliberate 


and  to  pray,  Melancthon,  leaving  the 
room  where  they  were  consulting,  re- 
tui-ned,  j  oyfully  exclaiming  to  Luther, 
"  Oh,  Sir  !  let  us  not  be  discouraged, 
for  I  have  seen  our  noble  protectors, 
the  little  children  of  our  parishioners, 
whose  earnest  prayers  I  have  just 
witnessed ;  prayers  which  I  am  satis- 
fied God  will  hear,  for  out  of  the 
mouths  of  babes  and  sucklings  he 
has  ordained  strength,  that  he  might 
still  the  enemy  and  the  avenger." — 
Lib.  Eccles.  KnoioJedge^  i.  198. 

505.  Early  Piety  Checked.  — 
A  chUd  was  deeply  convinced  of  sin, 
anxious  to  know  what  she  must  do  to 
be  saved.  Her  father,  in  most  re- 
spects a  consistent  Christian,  said, 
with  lamentable  indifierence,  "Oh, 
it  is  all  very  well,  but  it  won't  last, 
I  fear  I"  The  father's  want  of  zeal 
quenched  the  smoking  flame ;  it 
flickered,  it  died.  Hardened  against 
the  truth,  and  not  liking  its  appeals, 
she  shortly  left  the  Sabbath-school, 
and  "walked  the  ways  of  God  no 
more." — Davids. 

506.  Learning  from  the  best 
Teacher.— The  Rev.  John  Griffin, 
of  Portsea,  gave  the  following  account 
of  the  death  of  one  of  his  Sunday 
scholars,  in  the  year  1813.  His 
mother  at  first  had  opposed  his  going 
to  the  school,  but  afterwards  deter- 
mined to  go  and  hear  what  was 
taught  there,  and  by  tliis  means  was 
converted  to  God.  Not  long  after 
this,  her  son,  about  eleven  years  of 
age,  was  brought  to  his  death-bed, 
and  was  visited  by  his  ministers  and 
teachers.  The  first  time  I  asked  if 
he  expected  to  go  to  heaven;  "I 
do,"  was  the  reply.  I  asked  him, 
"  "Why  do  you  expect  to  go  to 
heaven?  AU  that  die  do  not  go 
there,  do  thej^?  and  why  then  do 
you  think  you  shall  go  to  heaven  ?" 
He  replied,  ' '  I  hope  I  shall  go  there, 
because  I  love  the  employment  of  the 


162 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL  WORLD. 


heavenly.  I  think  I  shall  be  happy 
in  praising  God,  and  serving  Him 
without  sin  ;  and  I  think  I  shall  go 
to  heaven,  because  I  delight  in  the 
society  of  heaven ;  I  shall  rejoice  in 
the  presence  of  a  holy  God,  and  holy 
angels,  and  the  spirits  of  just  men 
made  perfect."  He  paused,  and  I 
asked  if  he  had  any  other  reason. 
He  replied,  "  I  hope  I  shall  go  to 
heaven,  because  my  heart  is  already 
there ;  and  I  do  not  think  the  Spirit 
of  God  would  have  drawn  my  heart 
to  him,  and  made  me  delight  in  holi- 
ness and  His  service,  if  he  had  not 
intended  to  take  me  to  heaven."  I 
asked  him  if  he  had  always  thought 
in  this  way.  ' '  No,  no, "  said  he ;  "I 
was  once  a  naughty  and  wicked  boy, 
but  by  attending  the  Sunday-school 
I  have  learned  this :  but  I  hope  I 
have  learned  it  from  a  better  Teacher 
than  our  Sunday-school  teachers.  I 
think  I  have  learned  it  from  the 
Spirit  of  God." 


PIOUS  SOHOLAES. 

507.  The  lirst-rate  Scholar.— 
"We  all  love  him.  He  is  popular  in 
the  school,  and  with  all  who  know 
him.  We  love  him  because  he  not 
only  says,  like  the  heedless  child, 
that  he  tries  to  do  the  best  he  can, 
but  because  he  really  does  try,  and 
tries  in  such  a  way  as  to  succeed. 
He  shows  that  his  kind  of  trying 
means  going  ahead  and  doing.  He 
comes  to  school  regularly,  not  look- 
ing all  the  time  for  weak  excuses  for 
staying  at  home.  His  headaches 
and  other  diseases  do  not  come  on, 
as  is  the  case  with  some  of  the  other 
children,  just  in  time  to  keep  him 
from  school.  And  he  so  thought- 
fully arranges  his  matters  at  home 
that  he  is  in  his  seat  a  few  minutes 
before  the  time  for  the  opening  of 


school.  These  few  minutes  are  spent 
in  some  quiet  preparation  for  the 
duties  which  are  before  him,  some- 
times the  choice  of  a  library  book, 
sometimes  a  little  refreshment  of 
memory  on  the  lesson  of  the  day. 
He  takes  no  ]3art  in  the  exercise 
which  is  engaged  in  and  enjoyed  by 
some  ill-bred  boys,  of  tossing  caps 
and  books  at  each  other,  till  the 
teachers  come.  There  is  no  mistaking 
what  he  has  come  for.  Not  to  yawn, 
to  idle,  to  disturb  the  school,  or  to 
chat  with  his  friends.  But  to  learn. 
He  knows  no  other  good  reason  for 
coming  to  Sunday-school.  While  he 
is  in  school  he  makes  the  most  of 
his  time.  He  feels  that  he  cannot 
afford  to  lose  a  moment  or  an  oppor- 
tunity of  picking  up  the  smallest 
piece  of  information.  He  does  not 
look  on  the  work  of  gaining  know- 
ledge as  a  disagreeable  task,  nor 
does  he  think  he  is  doing  a  smart 
thing  in  cheating  the  teacher  out  of 
a  recitation.  With  attentive  ears 
and  open  heart,  he  takes  in  the  good 
word  of  instruction,  trying  to  remem- 
ber all  that  he  is  told.  It  is,  conse- 
quently, a  pleasui'e  to  teach  him. 
Entirely  different  from  the  heavy 
work  of  teaching  the  dull,  stupid 
creature,  whose  thoughts  are  in  the 
streets  or  fields,  while  his  absent- 
minded  body  is  pretending  to  give 
heed  to  what  is  being  spoken,  the 
first-rate  scholar  makes  some  use  of 
his  learning  as  he  goes  along.  He 
reflects  that  both  his  teacher  and 
himself  have  spent  time  and  labour 
on  it ;  the  one  in  preparing  and 
teaching  it,  the  other  in  receiving 
and  storing  it  away.  So,  instead  of 
throwing  it  away,  or  bottling  it  up 
for  old  age  or  posterity,  he  increases 
its  usefulness  by  imparting  some  of 
it  to  others.  He  likes  to  tell  his 
sisters  and  brothers  what  he  knows. 
He  has  introduced  a  great  deal  of 
Bible  knowledge  into  the  family,  has 
taught  Johnny  Stupid  his  letters,  and 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


163 


is  teaching  Betsy  Dull  how  to  read. 
He  finds  that  all  this  helps  him,  and 
makes  him  enjoy  hetter  what  he 
learns.  He  uses  his  Bible  well.  He 
keeps  a  little  Bible  in  his  pocket, 
ftnd  pulls  it  out  in  church  and  in 
Sunday-school,  when  the  Bible  is 
read  or  referred  to.  Consequently 
he  knows  (as  John  Lag-a-bed  in  the 
next  class  does  not  know)  exactly 
where  to  turn  when  a  chapter  and 
verse  are  mentioned.  He  does  not 
look  in  the  New  Testament  for  the 
Minor  Prophets,  nor  in  the  Old  for 
the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  He  has 
not  only  acquainted  himself  with 
the  localities  of  chapters  and  verses, 
but  the  saving  truths  which  these 
chapters  and  verses  teach  have  made 
a  deep  impression  on  his  heart. 
When  he  grows  up  he  will  make  a 
good  teacher.  He  is  not  of  the  sort 
of  boys  who  wander  away  from  school 
as  soon  as  they  think  they  are  almost 
men.  He  loves  the  school  and  its 
work  so  well  that  as  soon  as  he  is 
old  enough  to  teach  he  will  take 
hold  of  the  work,  and  do  for  other 
youngsters  what  has  been  done  for 
him  during  his  youth.  Oh,  for  more 
like  him !  Teacher,  you  can  have 
them  if  yoii  want  them.  Good 
teachers  will  make  good  scholars. 
Not  that  every  rebellious,  stupid, 
indifferent  child  can  be  at  once 
turned  into  a  model  of  diligence  in 
learning,  and  excellence  in  deport- 
ment ;  but  that  patient,  kind,  judi- 
cious, prayerful  labour,  with  even 
the  hardest  and  dullest,  will  improve 
them,  and  lead  them  on  from  care- 
lessness and  ignorance  to  something 
of  an  approach  to  what  they  ought 
to  be.  Teacher !  up  with  the  standard 
of  teaching.  It  is  not  high  enough. 
Let  us  not  be  satisfied  with  merely 
going  to  our  classes  and  sitting  there, 
year  after  year,  accomplishing  no- 
thing. Let  us  not  be  satisfied  with 
the  fact  that  the  children  are  willing 
to  come  and  drone  through  a  certain 


amount  of  dull  exercises,  flavoured 
with  a  few  thunder  and  lightning 
hymns  to  relieve  the  monotony  of  it. 
But  let  us  work  for  a  higher  degree 
of  excellence  in  every  branch  of  Sun- 
day-school attainment,  and,  above 
all,  labour  for  nothing  short  of  the 
conversion  to  God  of  every  child 
placed  under  our  care. — Taylor. 

r  508.  The  Scholar's  Aim.— It  is 
a  great  privilege  to  become  a  faithful, 
punctual  scholar  in  a  well-ordered 
Sunday-school.  Unnumbered  bless- 
ings follow  in  the  train.  He  should 
be  enabled  to  appreciate  this.  It  is 
a  matter  of  primary  importance  that 
on  his  first  introduction  to  the  Sun- 
day-school he  should  be  given  dis- 
tinctly to  understand  its  true  charac- 
ter, position,  appropriate  order  and 
duties,  and  consent  to  a  willing  con- 
formity to  all.  Every  scholar  should 
be  punctual,  orderly,  quiet,  and  res- 
pectful ;  he  should  learn  and  recite 
his  lessons  perfectly ;  never  leave  his 
seat  without  permission ;  address  no 
one  but  his  teacher,  as  a  general  rule ; 
be  obliging  and  pleasant  to  his  class  - 
mates,  and  set  a  good  example  of 
reverence  for  the  holy  Sabbath.  In 
testimony  of  his  appreciation  of  the 
benefits,  and  in  some  return  for  them, 
he  should  be  diligent  in  bringing  in 
new  scholars,  and  also  be  particular 
to  invite  his  parents  and  friends  to 
the  Monthly  Concerts  of  Prayer  for 
Sabbath-schools.  The  library  book 
should  be  carefully  read,  so  that  a 
good  account  can  be  given  of  its 
contents  to  the  teacher,  if  requested, 
and  the  special  instruction  of  the 
teacher  may  also  profitably  become 
a  subject  for  conversation  with  the 
parents.  Above  aU,  it  is  the  duty 
and  privilege  of  the  scholar  in  the 
Sunday-school  to  learn  the  way,  and 
find,  without  delay,  salvation  by 
Christ  in  His  own  rich  and  joyous 
experience,  and  then  to  fill  his  heart 

and    mind    with     a     general    and 


164 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WOELD. 


particular  knowledge  of  Bible 
truths,  and  learn  how  to  practise  all 
in  his  daily  Hfe.  Nothing  short  of 
this  experience  should  be  the  aim  of 
every  pupil. — Pardee. 

509.  The  Praying  Apprentice. — 
It  is  said  of  John  Angell  James,  that 
when  a  lad  he  served  as  an  apprentice. 
He  had  received  religious  instruction, 
and  been  taught  daily  to  seek  God's 
protection  and  blessing.  In  his  new 
home  he  occupied  a  room  with  a 
fellow-apprentice  who  had  no  fear  of 
God  in  his  heart.  Ashamed  to  ac- 
knowledge God  before  his  wicked  com- 
panion, he  laid  himself  down  to  rest 
without  prayer.  He  stifled  conscience 
until  prayer  was  forgotten,  and  with 
it  all  the  lessons  he  had  learned 
respecting  religion.  Thus  was  he 
living  when  another  lad  was  appren- 
ticed to  the  same  master.  This  lad 
occupied  the  same  room  with  young 
James  and  his  wicked  associate. 
When  night  came,  before  this  boy 
retired  to  rest  he  knelt  reverently 
in  prayer,  as  if  forgetting  all  else 
but  that  he  was  in  the  presence  of 
the  King  of  Kings.  By  this  example 
young  James' s  conscience  was  aroused. 
He,  saw  in  what  slippery  paths  his 
feet  were  treading,  and,  like  the 
prodigal,  he  sought  again  his  Father's 
house.  His  subsequent  history  is 
well  known.  He  became  eminent  as 
a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  and  through 
the  works  which  issued  from  his  pen, 
*'  he  being  dead  yet  speaketh. " 
Young  James,  whose  instrumentality 
in  later  years  God  so  signally  blessed, 
was  turned  from  the  ways  of  sin  by 
the  good  example  of  a  pious  com- 
panion. As  that  stranger  lad  knelt 
in  his  new  home  to  pray,  he  little 
dreamed  what  rich  streams  of  blessing 
would  flow  to  the  world  from  that 
act.  Be  encouraged  by  this  example 
never  to  shrink  from  the  performance 
of  duty.  By  a  consistent  Christian 
walk  souls  may  be  won  to  Christ, 


and  stars  added  to  your  crown  of 
rejoicing.  God's  blessing  ever  rests 
upon  a  faithful  discharge  of  duty. 

510.  Blind  Scholar. — A  blind  boy 
who  belonged  to  the  Institution  in 
Dublin,  when  dying,  said  that  he 
considered  it  one  of  the  greatest 
mercies  of  heaven  that  he  had  been 
deprived  of  his  sight,  because  this 
was  the  means  the  Lord  employed  to 
bring  him  under  the  sound  of  the 
Gospel,  which  was  now  the  joy  and 
rejoicing  of  his  soul. 

511.  A.  Clever  Eeply.  —  At  a 
missionary  station  among  the  Hot- 
tentots, the  question  was  proposed, 
"Do  we  possess  anything  that  we 
have  not  received  of  God  ?"  A  little 
girl  of  five  years  old  immediately 
answered,  "Yes,  sir,  sm." 

'  512.  A  Scholar's  Eesolve.  — 
A  man,  looking  up  from  sawing  his 
wood,  saw  his  little  son  turning  two 
boys  out  of  the  yard.  "  See  here  ; 
what  are  you  about,  George?"  asked 
the  man.  "  I'm  turning  two  swear- 
ers out  of  the  yard,  father,"  said 
George.  "  I  said  I  would  not  play 
with  swearers,  and  I  wonH"  That 
is  the  right  time  and  place  to  say,  "  I 
won't."  I  wish  every  boy  would 
take  thestand.  No ^^layivith swearers. 
"  Thou  shalt  not  take  the  name  of 
the  Lord  thy  God  in  vain." 

513.  Three  Examples. — A  very 
little  boy,  not  four  years  old,  in  the 
infant  class,  who,  with  his  smiHng 
face,  was  always  ready  to  greet  his 
teacher  at  the  appointed  hour,  won 
the  affections  of  the  whole  school  by 
his  orderly  conduct  and  good  be- 
haviour. Little  Jesse  was  a  general 
favourite  ;  but  till  illness  seized  his 
tender  frame,  none  thought  him 
pious  :  then,  indeed,  his  teacher,  and 
all  who  saw  him,  were  surprised  and 
thankful.  Jesse  both  talked  and  acted 
like  a  Christian ;  his  heart  was  fuU 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


IQl 


of  love  to  Jesus.     Again  and  again 
he  said,  "I  learnt  about  Jesus  in  my 
dear  school;"  continually  repeating 
with  much  fervour  the  simple  hymns 
and   Scripture    passages   which,   al- 
though   unable    to    read,    he    had 
acquired  by   oral  instruction.      He 
bore    his    sufferings   patiently,    and 
sunk  to  rest,  feebly  saying,  with  his 
dying    breath,     "Mother,   love    my 
Jesus  ! — Sister  Mary,  love  my  Jesus  ! 
— All,  all,    love  Jesus  ! "      A   little 
child,  about  eight,  the  child  of  very 
wicked  parents,  was  noticed  for  her 
regular  attendance,  well-learnt  les- 
sons,   and    the     deep    interest    she 
appeared    to  take  in  the    religious 
exercises    of    the    chapel     and    the 
school.      The     superintendent     said 
to    her    one    day,    "Jane,     do   you 
love  the  Lord  Jesus  ?"    "  Yes,  Sir,  I 
believe    I   do,"   was    the   firm   and 
modest  reply.     ' '  Do  you  think  you 
shall  go  to  heaven?"     "Yes,   Sir, 
for  Jesus  has  said,  '  Whosoever  be- 
lieveth     on     me     shall     never     be 
ashamed.'  "  Further  inquiry  elicited 
the  fact  that  the  teacher's  explana- 
tion   of    a   hymn,    some   two   years 
previously,   had,    to  use  the  child's 
expression,  made  her  "try  to  trust 
Jesus ; "   and  that  for  some  months 
she  had  been  in  the  habit  of  praying 
with  her  brothers  and  sisters,  and 
had  persuaded   her   mother  to  fre- 
quent the  house  of  Grod.     A  young 
woman,    an  assistant-teacher,  about 
sixteen,    very    unobtrusive    in    her 
manners,    but   a   regular   attendant 
at  all  religious  services,  and  attentive 
to  the    duties   of  her   station,   was 
asked  by  the  superintendent,  ' '  Eliza, 
do  you  think  you  are  a  Christian  ?  " 
*'  I  hope  so."     "  How  long  have  you 
thought   about  religion?"      "Ever 
since  that  address.  Sir,  I  heard  you 
deliver,  about  three  years  ago,  from 
Isaiah   xxxiii.    14."     Further    con- 
versation   passed.      "Within     three 
months  she  was  admitted  into  Church 
fellowship,  and  has  since  maintained 


the  most  consistent  conduct,  amid 
many  severe  tests  to  which  her  piety 
has  been  subjected. — Davids. 

514.  A   Pious  Boy.  —  A  pious 
little     boy,      who       attended      the 
Sunday-school,  a   few  hours  before 
his  death  broke   out     into  singing, 
and   sung   so   loud  as    to  cause  his 
mother    to    inquire    what    he    was 
doing.      "I  am  singing  my  sister's 
favourite     hymn,    mother,"      "  But 
why,  my  dear,  so  loud  ?  "     "  Why," 
said   he,    mth    peculiar     emphasis, 
"because    I   am    so   happy."     Just 
before  his  death,  with  uplifted  hands, 
he    exclaimed,     "Father!    Father! 
take  me,  Father  !  "    His  father  went 
to  lift  him  up,  when,  with  a  smile, 
he  said,  "  I  did  not  call  you.  Father ; 
but   I  was   calling  to  my  heavenly 
Father  to  take  me :  0,  I  shall  soon 
be  with  him;"  and  then  expired. — 
D?\  Cheever. 

515.  Loving  the  Bible. — One 
very  fine  day,  when  the  sun  was 
shining  brightly,  a  little  girl  was 
sitting  on  a  stool  just  outside  the 
door  of  her  cottage.  There  were 
several  little  children  playing  not  far 
ofi",  but  she  did  not  go  and  join 
them.  She  had  a  Bible  on  her  lap. 
She  did  not  look  about  her,  but 
kept  on  reading  her  Bible.  By  and 
by  a  gentleman  came  to  the  cottage. 
He  had  been  walking  a  long,  long 
way,  and  it  was  so  hot  that  he  was 
very  thirsty.  He  came  up  close  to 
the  little  girl  without  her  seeing 
him,  because  she  was  so  busy  read- 
ing. So  he  said:  "My  little  girl, 
will  you  be  so  kind  as  to '  get  me 
some  water?"  The  little  girl  got 
up  at  once,  and  put  her  Bible  down 
and  went  into  the  cottage.  She 
went  to  a  cupboard,  and  took  out 
a  jug  and  mug ;  then  she  went  and 
filled  the  jug  with  water,  and  took 
it  to  the  gentleman ;  and  she  poured 
out  the  water  into  the  mug  and  gave 
it  to  him.     The  gentleman  thanked 


166 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WORLD. 


h,er  for  it,  and  he  liked  the  nice  cold 
water  very  much.  When  he  gave 
her  back  the  mug  he  said :  ' '  What 
book  was  that,  my  little  girl,  which 
I  saw  you  reading?"  "The  Bible, 
Sir,"  she  said.  "And  why  have 
you  left  your  play  to  read  the 
Bible  ?  "  ' "  Because  I  love  it,  Sir." 
The  gentleman  wished  her  good 
morning,  and  left  her  to  go  on  with 
her  reading.  Now  this  gentleman 
was  not  a  good  man.  He  did  not 
love  God,  and  he  did  not  love  God's 
Bible.  As  he  went  along  the  road 
he  began  to  think  of  the  little  girl. 
He  was  quite  sure  the  little  girl 
had  spoken  the  truth,  because  if 
she  had  not  loved  the  Bible  she 
would  not  have  left  her  play  to  read 
it  when  she  thought  nobody  was 
looking  at  her  ;  for  this  little  girl 
did  not  do  it  that  persons  might 
see  her  and  praise  her.  ^  The  gentle- 
man thought,  "  That  little  girl  loves 
her  Bible ;  I  don't  love  my  Bible ;  I 
wish  I  was  like  that  little  girl ! " 
Then  he  began  to  think  why  he  did 
not  love  it,  and  he  saw  the  reason 
was  that  he  was  wicked.  He  was 
very  sorry  indeed  when  he  saw  that  he 
was  wicked,  so  sorry  that  the  tears 
rolled  down  his  cheeks.  When  he 
got  home  he  took  his  Bible  and 
read  it,  and  he  kept  on  reading 
until  he  loved  it  too. —  Church  of 
England  Magazine.    * 

516.  The  German  Girl We  re- 
call the  case  of  a  little  German  girl, 
a  member  of  our  infant  class,  who 
understood  but  little  of  English, 
and  who  could  not  spell  out  a 
single  verse  of  the  New  Testament. 
One  day,  whispering  in  our  ear, 
she  said,  "Please,  can't  we  sing 
*  Come  to  Jesus,'  teacher?"  "And 
why,  Mary?"  "Because  I  have 
been  singing  it  all  the  week  at 
home,  and  my  mother  loves  it  so 
much,  and  says  she  wishes  she 
knew  how   she    could  come."     The 


enlightening,  and  convicting,  and 
sanctifying  power  of  our  hymns  we 
shall  ourselves  never  fully  know. 
God  will  reveal  all  to  us  in  another 
world. — House. 

517.  A  three -year -old  Scholar, 
— "  Sunday-school  day  is  such 
a  happy  day  ! "  was  the  excla- 
mation of  one  child.  Another,  only 
just  turned  three,  on  being  asked 
at  the  tea-table  what  her  teacher 
had  taught  her,  replied  with  anima- 
tion, "About  Jesus  Christ  being- 
good  and  kind."  Further  question- 
ing educed,  in  infantile  language, 
the  following  impassioned  descrip- 
tion. ' '  Much  sea,  much  water — 
little  boys,  little  girls,  men,  women, 
very  hungry ;  Jesus  loved  them 
all,  made  them  all  sit  down,  broke 
the  bread  to  pieces,  tore  the  fishes 
to  bits,  and  fed  all  the  hungry 
people."  Then,  with  a  subdued 
tone,  "Mother,  teacher  said  that 
Jesus  feeds  us  now  up  in  heaven* 
Jesus  is  God ;  I  love  Jesus ;  I  love 
God."  Where  is  the  child  of  three 
years  old  that  could  have  gained 
half  as  much  by  hearing  twenty 
sermons  ? — Davids. 

518.  A  Parent's  Conversion. — - 
A  little  girl  belonging  to  the  Sabbath- 
school   in   B became   hopefully 

pious  when  she  was  about  nine  years 
old.  During  the  next  winter  she- 
attended  the  district  school.  When 
the  school  was  dismissed  at  night 
she  was  in  the  habit  of  lingering 
behind  till  all  the  scholars  had  left,, 
and  then  retui-ning  to  the  school- 
house,  and  spending  a  little  time  in 
prayer.  The  father  was  an  irreli- 
gious man,  and  an  infidel  in 
sentiment ;  but  he  was  very  kind 
and  aflectionate  to  his  little  daughter.. 
One  day,  when  the  weather  was 
extremely  severe,  and  the  wind 
high  and  piercing,  the  father  was 
afraid  she  would  perish  with  the 
cold.     Going  to  meet  her  he  found 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


167 


tlie  sciiolars  on  their  return  home, 
but  the  dear  object  of  his  search 
was  not  among  them.  With  all  the 
earnestness  of  an  anxious  parent 
he  hastened  to  the  school-house. 
"When  he  arrived  all  were  gone,  and 
all  was  silent,  except  the  piercing 
gusts  of  wind  which  whistled  around 
the  school-house.  He  cautiously 
opened  the  door  and  entered.  At 
that  moment  a  voice,  indicating 
the  greatest  earnestness,  fell  upon 
his  ear.  He  stopped  and  listened. 
It  was  his  beloved  child  pleading 
with  God  to  have  mercy  upon  her 
father.  The  father's  emotion  was 
too  strong  to  be  suppressed ;  his  soul 
was  filled  with  agony  and  bitterness. 
He  drew  near  and  embraced  his 
child,  and  then  accompanied  her 
home,  deeply  convinced  that  he 
was  a  sinner.  In  a  few  weeks  he 
accepted  Christ  as  his  all-sufficient 
Saviour,  and  his  only  hope  of  eternal 
life.  He  is  now  a  devoted,  active 
Christian. 

519.  A  Boy's  Wish.— Some  Httle 
boys  in  front  of  my  house,  a  few 
days  since,  sat  down  on  the  steps, 
and  began  to  tell  the  largest  wish 
they  had.  One  wanted  a  pony  to 
ride  in  Central  Park;  one  wanted 
all  schools  and  masters  in  the 
bottom  of  the  sea;  one  wanted  ice 
to  come  by  Thanksgiving  Day.  One 
dear  boy  said,  "  My  wish  is  so  large, 
so  sweet,  I  hardly  dare  tell  it,  and 
it  swallows  up  all  my  other  wishes." 
''  Oh !  what  is  it  ?  What  is  it  ?  " 
*'Well,  don't  laugh  boys.  I  wish 
you  only  knew  mij  Jesus.^^  Dear 
teachers,  get  but  this  wish  down 
deep  enough,  and  you  won't  be- 
grudge training  time  for  Christ. — 
Halph  Wells. 

520.  Influence  of  Little  Things. 
— Take  every  method  to  encourage 
the  child,  and  to  show  him  the  pos- 
sibility of  producing  very  great 
changes  from  slight  beginnings.     I 


cannot  better  illustrate  this  point 
than  by  telling  the  short  story,  from 
the  ''  London  Quarterly  Review,"  as 
related  by  Lochman.  *'  A  vizier, 
having  ofiended  his  master,  was  com- 
pelled to  perpetual  captivity  in  a 
lofty  tower.  At  night  his  wife  came 
to  weep  below  his  window.  '  Cease 
your  grief,'  said  the  sage,  '  go  home 
for  the  present,  and  return  hither 
when  you  have  procured  a  black 
beetle,  together  with  a  little  ghee  (or 
buffalo's  butter),  three  clews,  one  of 
the  finest  silk,  another  of  stout  pack- 
thread, and  another  of  whipcord; 
finally,  a  stout  rope.'  When  she 
again  came  to  the  foot  of  the  tower, 
provided  according  to  her  husband's 
commands,  he  directed  her  to  touch 
the  head  of  the  insect  with  a  little  of 
the  ghee,  to  tie  one  end  of  the  sillv 
thread  around  him,  and  to  place  the 
reptile  on  the  wall  of  the  tower. 
Seduced  by  the  smell  of  the  butter, 
which  he  conceived  to  be  in  store 
somewhere  above  him,  the  beetle 
continued  to  ascend  till  he  reached 
the  top,  and  thus  put  the  vizier  in 
possession  of  the  roll  of  silk  thread. 
He  then  drew  up  the  pack-thread  by 
means  of  the  silk ;  the  small  cord  by 
means  of  the  pack-thread ;  and  by 
means  of  the  cord  a  stout  rope,  ca- 
pable of  sustaining  his  own  weight ; 
and  thus  he  escaped  from  the  tower." 
— Todd.  •  , 


521.  How  to  Help  Tour  Teacher 

— ''  Aunty,"  said  little  Fanny  S 

one  Satui'day  afternoon  to  her  Aunt 
Mary,  who  was  just  recovering  from 
a  short  illness,  ' '  Aunty,  do  you 
thirik  you  shall  be  able  to  go  to  Sun- 
day-school to-morrow  ?  "  ' '  Perhaps 
so,"  replied  Aunt  Mary,  "  if  you  will 
help  me  after  we  get  there."  "J 
help  you!"  exclaimed  Fanny  in 
amazement.  "  I  don't  think  I  can ; 
I'm  too  little."  ''  Yes,  you  can,  and 
sometimes  you  do  help  me  very 
much."     "/do!     Why,  Aunty,  I 


t^^ 


168 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


never  explain  the  lesson,  nor  select 
library  books,  nor — "  "  Stop  a  mo- 
ment, and  I  will  tell  you  how  you 
do  help  me.  When  you  come  with 
your  lesson  well  learned ;  when  you 
are  attentive,  teachable,  and  docile, 
then  you  help  to  make  it  easy  for  me 
to  teach.  It  is  hard  work  for  one  to 
try  to  teach  a  class  when  she  sees 
one  gazing  around  the  school,  another 
arranging  her  dress,  another  peeping 
into  a  library  book,  or  whispering  to 
her  companion.  Oh,  how  sad  and 
disheartened  I  feel  when  my  girls  do 
so !"  "  Aunty,"  said  Fanny  colour- 
ing, ''  I've  done  some  of  those  things, 
but  I  did'nt  think  that  it  was  making 
it  hard  for  you.  I  shall  try  to  re- 
member that  to-morrow."  "  Then," 
continued  her  aunt,  "  if  you  have 
your  lesson  well  learned,  the  others 
will  be  more  likely  to  learn  theirs. 
If  you  are  attentive  and  teachable, 
others  will  be  more  likely  to  be  so. 
Now,  do  you  understand  how  you  can 
help  me?"  "Yes,"  said  Fanny. 
"  I  can  learn  my  lesson  ivell  before  I 
go  to  Sabbath-school,  and  be  atten- 
tive and  teachable  while  there.  Is 
there  any  other  way  I  can  help  you  ?  " 
**  Yes,  indeed.  But  let  me  see  to- 
morrow if  you  remember  what  I  have 
told  you  now,  and  if  you  do  I  will 
tell  you  other  ways."  "  Well,  then, 
I  win  go  and  get  my  lesson  i^iyht 
awayJ^ 

522.  Possible  Proit. — No  lan- 
guage can  describe,  and  no  imagi- 
nation can  conceive;  the  influence, 
either  good  or  bad,  which  each  scholar 
under  your  care  may  yet  exert. 
There  may  be  a  Cowper  among  them ; 
there  may  be  a  Byron ;  a  missionary 
of  the  cross,  or  one  who  shall  here- 
after scatter  arrows,  firebrands,  and 
death.  Facts  are  tiresome,  unless 
your  feelings  are  absorbed  in  the 
truth  which  they  illustrate.  But 
look  at  one,  and  see  what  a  little 
child  may  become.     *'A  little  boy 


was  put  out  as  an  apprentice  to  a 
mechanic  in  a  large  establishment, 
and,  being  the  youngest  apprentice, 
had  to  do  errands  for  others ;  one 
part  of  his  business  was  to  procure 
ardent  spirits,  of  which  they  drank 
every  day.  But  he  never  drank  any ; 
and  the  others  used  to  laugh  at  him 
and  ridicule  him,  because,  as  they 
said,  he  had  not  man  enough  to  drink 
rum.  And  under  their  abuse  he 
often  retired  and  vented  his  grief  in 
tears.  But  now,  every  one  of  these 
apprentices,  except  himself,  is  a 
drunkard,  or  in  a  drunkard's  grave. 
He  is  a  sober  man,  the  owner  of  a 
large  estate,  which  he  has  acquii-ed 
by  his  industry ;  has  many  workmen 
in  his  employ,  all  living  on  the  plan 
of  abstinence  from  the  use  of  ardent 
spirits  ;  and  he  is  exerting  a  highly 
salutary  influence  over  a  large  ex- 
tent of  country." — Todd. 

523.  A  Child's  Testimony.— 
The  following  is  the  testimony  of  a 
child  nine  years  of  age.  "  She  was 
very  little  acquainted  with  religious 
story-books ;  in  fact,  her  mind  had 
imbibed  a  love  for  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures, which  rendered  such  auxili- 
aries quite  unnecessary ;  at  six  years 
old  she  read  the  Scriptures  with  re- 
ferences, and  devoted  to  that  all  her 
leisure  moments.  She  kept  a  Bibl& 
always  under  her  pillow,  that  she 
might  read  it  in  the  morning  before 
she  dressed;  and  when  her  parents 
happened  to  spend  an  evening  from 
home,  she  always  requested  to  have 
a  candle  in  the  parlour  for  the  pur- 
pose of  reading  in  preference  to  plaj'-- 
ing  in  the  nursery  with  her  brother 
and  sister.  A  Christian  friend  brought 
her  one  day,  '  Janeway's  Token 
for  Children,'  a  beautiful  collection 
of  narratives,  detailing  the  happy 
deaths  and  extraordinary  experience 
of  very  young  children.  She  had  not 
read  long,  when  she  laid  down  the 
book  with  a  look  of  some  perplexity, 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WOELD. 


169 


and  sat  still,  evidently  deeply  en- 
gaged in  thinking:  her  mother  at 
length  inquired  how  she  liked  the 
new  book.  She  answered,  '  I  like 
it,  and  yet  I  don't  like  it.'  When 
asked  to  explain,  she  said  it  was 
very  interesting  indeed,  and  very 
Tiseful  for  2}(i')'etits  to  read,  because  it 
would  encourage  them  to  begin  reli- 
gious instruction  early ;  *  but  I  don't 
think  it  fit  for  children.'  '  Why  so  ?' 
her  mother  inquired.  She  said,  '  she 
thought  it  calculated  to  teach  chil- 
dren to  talk  like  parrots,  and  say  fine 
things  which  they  did  not  feel.  I 
know  1  will  not  read  it  any  longer, 
for  fear  I  would  soon  not  know 
whether  I  was  thinking  my  own 
thoughts,  or  only  trying  to  persuade 
myself  that  /  was  one  of  the  wonder- 
ful little  children.''''^ 

524.  A  Youthful  Eesolution  for 
a  New  Year. — On  the  last  evening 
of  the  Old  Tear,  George  and  Ella 
Jones  sat  watching  the  fading  light 
with  saddened  faces,  for  the  shadow 
of  a  great  sorrow  which,  a  few  months 
before,  had  visited  them,  still  rested 
on  their  home.  The  light  of  the 
household  —  the  patient,  loving, 
mother  —  had  been  called  away  by 
death  when  most  her  presence  seemed 
needed.  Her  children  were  just 
entering  upon  the  slippery  paths  of 
youth ;  and  who  so  fitted  to  counsel 
and  to  guide  as  a  faithful  Christian 
mother  ?  The  father  loved  his  chil- 
dren; but  he  was  so  immersed  in 
business  that  he  devoted  little  time 
to  the  mental  or  moral  culture  of  his 
household.  Only  to  the  orphan's 
God  could  the  dying  mother  commit 
her  children.  This  New  Year's  Eve, 
as  the  brother  and  sister  thought  of 
their  lonely  home,  and  as  the  truth 
pressed  upon  them  that  in  all  the 
years  to  come  they  could  never  again 
know  a  mother's  love,  a  mother's  care, 
sorrow  filled  their  hearts.  They  felt 
■within  them  longings  for  a  better 


life.  They  wanted  to  begin  the  new 
year  aright ;  but  to  whom  could  they 
go  for  sympathy  and  encouragement  ? 
Upon  one  thing  they  at  last  decided. 
They  would  try  to  keep  holy  all  the 
Sabbaths  of  the  new  year.  They 
would  be  found  on  the  Lord's  Day  in 
the  courts  of  the  Lord's  house.  Espe- 
cially would  they  be  regular  in  their 
attendance  at  the  Sabbath-school, 
This  resolution  they  faithfully  kept. 
The  Sabbath-school  they  attended 
was  a  flourishing  one ;  and  as  spring 
advanced  the  hearts  of  faithful 
teachers  were  gladdened  by  the  as- 
surance that  some  of  those  for  whom 
they  laboured  were  giving  heed  to 
the  ''  still  small  voice  "  within  them. 
Thus  encouraged,  they  were  per- 
suaded to  more  zealous  laboui's  on 
behaK  of  those  who  still  remained  un- 
awakened.  The  Church  was  aroused . 
Meetings  for  prayer  were  multiplied. 
God  opened  the  windows  of  heaven 
and  poured  out  a  rich  blessing.  The 
work  reached  all  ages  and  conditions ; 
but  the  Sabbath -school  shared  most 
largely  in  the  gracious  outpouring. 
Among  those  who  at  that  time  were 
made  the  subjects  of  renewing  grace 
were  George  and  Ella  Jones.  They 
put  themselves  in  the  way  of  God's 
blessing,  and  God  bestowed  upon 
them  the  richest  gift  He  holds  for 
sinners  perishing, — salvation  through 
Christ.  Though  they  still  mourned 
a  mother's  loss,  the  world  no  longer 
seemed  dark  to  them,  for  the  light  of 
God's  love  shone  on  their  pathway. 
They  Vv^alked  no  longer  without  a 
guide,  for  He  was  with  them  who 
has  said :  "I  will  never  leave  thee^ 
nor  forsake  thee."  What,  my  young 
reader,  wiU  be  your  resolve  for  next 
year  ?  Many,  like  George  and  EUa 
Jones,  have  found  that  the  paths  of 
common  duty  are  the  "paths  in 
which  blessings  travel — the  paths  in. 
which  God  is  met." 


170 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WOKLD. 


OLDEE  SOHOLAKS. 

525.  Eetaining  Them.  —  Any 
grading  system  in  a  Sabbath-school, 
except  that  which  divides  the  infant 
class  from  the  main  school,  will  have 
a  damaging  effect  upon  its  prosperity. 
There  should  be  no  first,  second,  or 
third  divisions  by  which  the  Bible 
classes  would  belong  to  one,  the  older 
boys  and  girls  to  the  second,  and  the 
young  children  to  the  third ;  neither 
should  there  be  a  special  place  in  the 
school-room  for  adult  classes ;  neither 
should  the  classes  be  numbered  one, 
two,  three,  according  to  age  ;  neither 
should  the  boys  be  placed  on  one 
side  of  the  room  and  the  girls  on  the 
other.  All  these  arrangements  tend 
to  make  those  scholars  who  are  neither 
children  nor  adults  uneasy.  All  the 
appointments  of  the  Sabbath- school 
should  be  such  as  to  render  it  im- 
possible for  a  visitor  to  detect  any 
division  based  upon  rank  or  age. 
Let  the  classes  of  little  scholars  just 
from  the  infant  room,  of  boys  and 
girls,  of  young  mey  and  young 
women,  of  old  men  and  old  women, 
be  all  mixed  up  in  the  room  without 
order.  This  is  one  way  to  make  all 
ages  in  the  school  feel  at  home.  So 
writes  a  New  York  superintendent 
of  large  experience. — House. 

526.  Never  too  Old  to  Learn. — 
The  Sabbath- school,  indeed,  is  that 
one  institution  from  which  there  is, 
and  there  should  be,  no  diploma  of 
graduation,  unless  it  be  that  of 
Simeon,  ' '  Now  lettest  thou  thy  ser- 
vant depart  in  peace."  With  the 
exception  of  those  prevented  by  sick- 
ness and  unavoidable  duties  else- 
where, the  school  properly  and  legiti- 
mately consists  of  the  entire  congre- 
gation, from  the  infants  to  the 
grandfathers  and  the  grandmothers. 
As  we  are  never  too  young  to  begin 
to  learn,  so  we  are  never  too  old  or 
too  wise  to  continue  the  studv  of 


God's  word ;  and  when  we  shall  have 
generally  in  our  schools  more  fre- 
quent examples  of  the  old  people's 
classes,  or  *'  spectacle  classes,"  to  be 
found  in  some  schools,  we  shall  hear 
less  of  the  difl&culty  of  retaining  the 
older  boys  and  girls. — Dr.  Hart. 

527.  An  Adult  Glass. — My  pres- 
ent   class   consists   of    thirty  girls, 
whose    ages    vary  from    fifteen    to 
twenty-five.     Two  have  been  with 
me  ever  since  I  took  the  class.     The 
average   attendance  is   twenty-two. 
I  think  that  the  success  of  an  adult 
class  depends  very  much  upon  the 
personal  influence  and  regularity  of 
the  teacher.     I  would   study  their 
feelings,  and,  when  reproof  was  ne- 
cessary,  do  it  privately,  and  in   a 
gentle,  affectionate  manner,  not  show- 
ing displeasure,  but  sorrow  for  their 
faults.      A   separate   room   is  _^  quite 
necessary  for  an  adult   class.     The 
girls  always  prefer  it,  the  teacher  is 
more  at  home  with  her  class,  and  it 
establishes  a  greater  feeling  of  con- 
fidence and  sympathy  between  them ; 
but,  if  possible,  the  connection  with 
the   school   should   be  kept  up,    in 
order  to  maintain  love  and  sympathy 
with  the  other  scholars  and  teachers. 
When  it  can  be  done,  as  it  is  in  my 
own   class,  they  should  join  in  the 
singing  and  prayers  with  the  rest  of 
the  school  at  the  opening  and  closing. 
A  social  gathering  once  a  year  creates 
a  good  feeling,  and  a  personal  interest 
in  their  welfare,  and  sympathy  with 
them  in  their  troubles  and  difiiculties, 
combined  with  an  occasional  visit  to 
them,    is   sufiicient  to   insure  their 
attendance,  respect,  and  attachment. 
Be  ready  always  to  hear  their  troubles 
and  to  give  advice,  let  no  partiality 
whatever  be  shown  in  the  class,  en- 
courage the  shy  and  timid  ones  to 
repose  confidence  in  you,  and  when, 
tlirough  circumstances,  they  leave  the 
class,   keep   up   your  influence   and 
connection  with  them  by  an  occasional 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WOELD. 


171 


letter  or  visit.  A  course  of  lessons 
is  beneficial  for  the  school,  and  when 
teaching  a  junior  class  I  was  always 
glad  that  the  lesson  was  arranged  for 
me  ;  but  the  teachers  of  senior  classes 
ought  to  be  at  liberty  to  teach  what 
they  think  most  suitable.  Let  Christ 
be  the  theme  of  all  the  lessons.  Illus- 
trate truths  by  examples  from  the 
Bible ;  the  Old  Testament  is  replete 
with  them,  and  most  girls  are  very 
ignorant  of  the  Old  Testament  stories. 
—  Co7'.  Church  of  England  Sunday 
School  3Iagazine. 

528.  Wesleyan  Schools. — A  gen- 
tleman who  has  had  a  large  Sunday- 
school  experience  says,  speaking  of 
the  Wesleyan  Simday- schools  in 
England:  "The  number  of  scholars 
above  fifteen  years  of  age  is,  on  the 
whole,  very  encouraging.  There  are 
upwards  of  ninety-three  thousand, 
the  proportion  being  above  sixteen 
per  cent.  In  the  northern  manufac- 
turing counties  the  proportion  rises 
very  far  above  this  average,  amount- 
ing, at  Bolton,  for  instance,  to  more 
than  one-third  of  the  whole  number 
of  scholars  in  attendance.  The  great 
secret  of  retaining  scholars  to  a  late 
age  is  to  provide  high  organisation, 
thoroughly  competent  and  devoted 
teachers,  and  separate  class-rooms  for 
all  the  senior  classes.  With  these 
conditions  it  is  as  possible  to  retain 
scholars  far  beyond  the  age  of  fifteen 
in  the  south  of  England  as  in  the 
north,  as  is  proved  by  the  remarkable 
case  of  the  schools  at  Sherburn,  the 
organisation  and  efiiciency  of  which 
have  been  carried  to  so  high  a  pitch 
under  the  intelligent,  assiduous,  and 
Christian  superintendence  of  Mr. 
Dingley,  continued  during  the  last 
thirty  years. 

529.  Eaise  the  Popular  View. 
Another    writer    of    lar 
experience  remarks:   1.  Elevate  the 
popular  conception  of  the  Sabbath- 
school.     Eradicate  the  idea  that  the 


teaching 


Sabbath-school  is  primary,  and  chiefly 
a  children's  institution.  It  is  a 
Bible  school.  It  is  the  place  for 
public,  united,  systematic  study  of 
God's  Word,  where  minister  and 
people,  learned  and  unlearned,  old 
and  young,  rich  and  poor,  come 
together  to  "search  the  Scriptures." 
2.  Elevate  the  management  of  the 
Sabbath- school.  Adapt  it  to  the 
tastes  and  needs  of  youths  and  adults, 
as  well  as  children.  In  the  selection 
of  the  library,  in  the  character  of 
the  hymns,  above  all,  in  the  conduct 
of  the  general  exercises,  recognise 
the  fact  that  the  youth  and  adults 
are  not  an  appendage,  but  a  co-ordi- 
nate and  integral  part  of  the  school. 
Have  no  fear  that  the  children  will 
suflPer  thereby.  Make  the  school  one 
into  which  adults  and  youth  shall  put 
their  enthusiasm,  and  you  cannot 
keep  the  children  away.  3.  Set  the 
example.  Let  the  minister  be  there  ; 
let  the  fathers  and  mothers  come ;  let 
every  member  of  the  church  feel 
bound  to  attend  the  Sabbath-school 
as  fully  as  the  prayer-meeting :  let  it 
become  entirely  obvious  that  it  is  a 
great  master  purpose  of  the  entire 
church  to  learn  for  themselves  and 
each  other  what  God  hath  taught. — 
House, 

530.  Separate  Eooms. — After  an 
experience  of  over  a  quarter  of  a 
century  I  am  fully  convinced  that 
the  best  way  to  retain  our  elder 
scholars  generally  is  to  break  the 
connection  between  the  Bible  classes 
and  the  next  senior  classes  in  the 
school  as  little  as  possible.  Had  I 
but  two  rooms  at  my  disposal  I  would 
put  all  the  scholars  under  twelve 
years  of  age  in  one  room,  and  those 
above  twelve  in  the  other — with 
perhaps  a  curtain  between  the  upper 
classes — in  preference  to  keeping  one 
for  the  boys  and  one  for  the  girls. 
Had  I  thi-ee  rooms,  the  third  should 
be  devoted  to  the  infants  and  very 


I  2 


172 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL    WORLD. 


youngest  classes.    But  the  most  diffi- 
cult period  during  which  to  retain 
our  scholars  is  from  about  the  age  of 
fifteen  to  seventeen,  when  they  are 
beginning  to   think  themselves   al- 
ready men  and  women,  and  to  doubt 
whether  they  are  not  getting  too  old 
even  for  a  senior  class  in  the  Sunday- 
school.     For  such  we  require  a  pecu- 
liarly efficient  teacher,  one  who  knows 
just  how  far  to  relax  rules  and  re- 
straint so  as  to  give  a  sense  of  liberty 
without  losing  authority,  one   who 
can  attract  the  scholars  by  interesting 
and  comprehensive  teaching,  and  who 
can  hold  them  with  the  cords  of  love. 
Teachers  must  not  confine  their  inter- 
course  with    their   scholars    to    the 
Sunday  only ;  much  more  may  often 
be  done  by  a  quiet  half-hour's  con- 
versation at  the  teacher's  own  house, 
or  while  walking  by  the  way,  than 
by  many  a  Sunday's  lesson.     An  oc- 
casional friendly  tea   given  to   the 
class,  followed  by  an  hour's  amuse- 
ment, or  interesting  conversation,  or 
lively  reading,  will  be  both  time  and 
money  well  spent.    Then,  again,  they 
are  now  of  an  age  to  desire  to  be  doing 
something  themselves  in  the  Lord's 
vineyard,  and  itmustbe  our  endeavour 
to  find  them  such  occupation  as  they 
may  be  best  fitted  for.     In  our  own 
school  we  have  found  it  most  bene- 
ficial to  set  apart  two  or  three  classes, 
both  of  the  boys  and  of  the  girls,  to 
be  taught  by  those  who  still  belong 
to  our  respective  Bible  classes,  our 
plan  being  for  some  of  those  who  are 
well  qualified  to  teach  to  take  the 
classes  in  the  morning,  and  to  attend 
the  pible  class  in  the  afternoon,  while 
others,  who  have  attended  the  Bible 
class  in  the  morning,  teach  the  classes 
in  the  afternoon.    By  this  means  they 
are    gradually  trained    as    teachers 
mthout  losing  the  benefit  of  instruc- 
tion for  themselves,  and,  having  only 
one  lesson  to  prepare  for  teaching, 
they  are  the  better  able  to  do  justice 
to   their   classes.     In   addition,   the 


advantage  of  finding  some  useful  and 
pleasant  occupation  for  their  leisure 
evenings  cannot  be  over-estimated. 
Companionships  and  occupation  of 
some  sort  they  will  find,  and  if,  by 
means  of  mutual  improvement  classes, 
singing  classes,  lectures,  social  meet- 
ings, readings,  etc.,  we  can  keep  them 
from  evil,  or  even  questionable  amuse- 
ments and  companions,  we  shall  do 
much  to  further  and  confirm  the 
Sunday  teaching. —  Cor.  Church  of 
England  Sunday  School  Magazine. 

531.  G-et  Church  Members  to  be- 
come Scholars. — I  would  set  myself 
to  work  to  induce  the  oldest  and  most 
dignified  and  respectable  persons  in 
the  congregation  to  join  the  school, 
not  as  teachers,  but  as  scholars.     I 
have  faith  to  believe  that  there  are 
few  congregations  where  a  discreet, 
sober-minded  superintendent,  by  pre- 
senting this  subject  personally  and 
privately  to  some  of  the  leading  men 
and  women  past  middle  age,  might 
not  meet  with   success.     There  are 
pious  old  ladies  in  every  congregation, 
those  who,  with  hymn-book  in  hand, 
are  always  seen  at  the  weekly  prayer- 
meeting,  who  would  be  glad  to  come 
together  on  the  Sabbath  to  read  and 
talk  together  over  God's  word  under 
the  guidance  of  some  competent  in- 
structor.  Let  the  superintendent  who 
wishes  to  prevent  the  big  boys  and 
girls  from  straying  begin  by  forming, 
if  possible,  a  class  of  grandmothers 
and  a  class  of  grandfathers,  and  so 
work  his  way  down.     When  he  gets 
some  of  the  grandfathers  and  grand- 
mothers in  school,  and  then  some  of 
the  fathers  and  mothers,   and  then 
some  of  the  young  men  and  women, 
he  will  find  no  difficulty  with  the 
boys  and  gMs. — J)r.  Hart. 

532.  Advantage  of  Eetaining 
Scholars. — "Wherever  the  children 
are  retained  at  the  schools  to  a  late 
age,  comparatively  speaking — that  is, 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WOELD. 


173 


to  seventeen  years  and  upward — it  is 
found,  as  might  be  expected,  tliat  a 
large  proportion  of  them  are  saved 
from  going  astray — are,  ia  fact, 
gained  as  members  of  the  church. 
In  those  southern  and  midland 
districts,  where  very  few  scholars 
remain  beyond  the  age  of  fourteen  or 
fifteen,  the  proportion  of  Sunday 
scholars  who  are  ' '  members  of  society' ' 
— members  of  the  church — falls  as 
low  as  two  or  three  per  cent.  In  the 
Manchester  district  it  rises  to  nearly 
nine  per  cent.,  and  in  the  Halifax 
and  Bradford  to  eleven  per  cent.  It 
follows  that  the  real  usefulness,  the 
Christian  efficacy  of  a  Sunday-school, 
hinges  on  this  point :  the  retention  of 
the  scholars  till  they  become  young 
men  or  young  women;  and  this 
again,  as  we  have  said,  depends  on 
the  quality  and  attainments  of  their 
teachers,  and  on  the  provision  of 
separate  class-rooms. — House. 

533.  Oorrespondence  with  Scho- 
lars.— The  superintendent  of  a  large 
school  was  obliged  to  remove  to  the 
suburbs  on  account  of  his  health. 
He  had  long  hesitated  about  gi^'ing 
up  his  post,  and  was  taken  to  task 
by  others  for  supposing  that  no  one 
could  fill  his  place.  Afer  removing 
his  residence,  he  began  a  school, 
which  at  the  commencement  did 
not  exceed  half  a  dozen  scholars,  but 
now  they  number  one  hundred  and 
twenty,  though  he  has  such  delicate 
health  that  he  is  scarcely  able  to 
leave  his  own  house.  A  gentleman 
who  called  on  him  found  him  en- 
gaged in  answering  a  large  number 
of  letters,  and  found,  upon  inquiry, 
that  he  had  been  in  the  habit  of 
corresponding  with  his  scholars  since 
he  had  been  unable  to  \dsit  them 
personally.  A  young  man  told  me 
that  he  had  known  letters  from 
this  gentleman  arrive  at  a  workshop, 
and  had  seen  tears  trickle  down 
the  faces  of  men  when  reading  them ; 


and  when  asked  what  was  the 
matter,  they  would  reply  that  it 
was  a  letter  from  the  superintendent, 
and  they  did  not  know  that  any  one 
cared  for  them  so  much.  It  never 
occurred  to  me  before  that,  so  far 
from  excusing  myself  from  visiting 
from  want  of  time,  it  was  possible 
to  have  sent  a  line  through  the  post 
which  might  have  impressed  the 
mind  of  the  recipient  with  the  feeling 
that  some  one  thought  and  cared 
for  him. — John  Hodgson. 


TREATMENT  OF  SOHOLAES. 

534.  The  Superintendent,  in  any 
remarks  or  announcements  from  the 
desk,  should  not  use  the  word 
child)'e?i ;  he  should  always  say 
scholars.  This  would,  of  course, 
apply  to  all  ages,  and  would  ofiend 
none.  Scholars  in  their  teens,  in  the 
transition  stage  from  boys  and  girls  to 
young  men  and  young  women,  do 
not  like  to  be  called  children.  The 
superintendent  would  make  just  as 
bad  a  mistake  if  he  should  be  in 
the  habit  of  discriminating  between 
the  ages,  and  sometimes  say  children^ 
and  sometimes  younxj  men.  He  has 
all  ages  to  address,  and  it  is  quite 
difficult  to  know  the  precise  time 
when  a  boy  becomes  a  young  man. 
Still,  there  are  times  when  it  is 
necessary  to  speak  to  young  men, 
and  to  designate  certain  classes. 
He  should  always,  in  such  cases, 
err  on  the  safe  side,  and  call  a  class 
of  good-sized  boys  young  men. 
This  has  in  it  a  little  of  the  wisdom 
of  the  serpent,  but  it  is  a  kind  of 
wisdom  which  every  superintendent 
should  learn,  if  he  would  keep  his 
large  boys  in  the  school.  There  are 
some  superintendents  who  take  special 
pains  in  conversing  with  boys  to 
call  them  young    men    before  any 


174 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WOELD. 


others  would  think  of  doing  so* 
In  a  certain  scliool,  the  superin- 
tendent noticed  that  one  of  his 
classes,  composed  of  boys  of  about 
sixteen  years  of  age,  was  a  little 
restive.  He  saw  at  once  that  the 
boys  were  beginning  to  feel  a  little 
too  old. to  be  in  the  Sabbath-school. 
He  resolved  at  once  what  to  do,  and 
took  the  first  opportunity  to  speak 
of  the  class  before  the  whole  school 
as  one  of  ''young  men."  He  watched 
the  effect  upon  them.  The  boys 
turned  and  looked  upon  each  other 
and  nodded  their  heads  with  evident 
satisfaction,  as  much  as  to  say, 
*'we  are  young  men."  There  was 
no  trouble  with  that  class  after- 
ward. This  plan  will  generally  be 
found  an  effective  remedy  for  the 
difficulty  alluded  to.  Many  a  class 
of  good-sized  boys  who  are  beginning 
to  feel  too  old  for  the  Sunday-school 
can  be  settled  down  into  a  state 
<of  perfect  contentment  by  calling 
it  a  class  of  young  men,  and  so 
recognizing  it  before  the  whole 
school. — House. 

535.  Consider  the  Scholar. — Ere 
a  turf  is  cut  on  a  projected  railway 
the  line  is  surveyed.  The  character 
of  the  land  through  which  it  is  to 
pass  must  first  be  ascertained  ere 
the  implements  of  labour  are  applied. 
In  like  manner  survey  the  material 
on  which  you  are  to  operate.  Con- 
sider the  scholar. — Dr.  Steel. 

536.  Individuality. —  There  are 
individual  features  of  scholars'  cha- 
racter to  be  studied.  Each  has  a 
peculiarity  in  mind  and  disposition. 
One  is  dull,  another  is  bright,  a 
third  is  obstinate,  a  fourth  is  gentle, 
a  fifth  is  grave,  a  sixth  is  gay.  In 
one  class  all  these  varieties  will  be 
found.  They  form  a  studj''  for  the 
earnest  and  thoughtful  teacher,  and 
afford  ample  material  for  the  adapta- 
tion   of    his    manner    of    teaching. 


These  features  very  soon  appear. — 
Dr.  Steel. 

537.  Teach  Eespect.— The  chil- 
dren of  the  poor,  especially  in  large 
manufacturing  towns,  are  often  ex- 
ceedingly destitute  of  that  respectful 
deportment  towards  their  superiors 
which  the  order  of  society  necessa- 
rily requires.  This  defect  it  is  your 
duty  as  much  as  possible  to  supply. 
A  civil,  submissive,  respectful  habit 
is  not  to  be  considered  as  merelj' 
constituting  the  polish  of  rjeneral 
character,  but  in  some  measure 
preparing  for  religious  impres- 
sion. A  rude,  uncivil,  untractable 
youth  is  the  last  in  the  school  in 
whose  heart  holy  emotions  are  likely 
to  be  produced.  He  who  feels  little 
respect  for  human  authority  is  far 
distant  from  bowing  with  humility 
before  that  which  is  divine. — J.  A. 
James. 

538.  Teach  Studious  Habits, — 
The  child  should  be  made  a  student. 
It  is  not  enough  that  a  certain 
amount  of  knowledge  be  imparted  to 
it,  if  a  process  of  se/f-instruction  be 
not  induced.  In  the  process  of  oral 
instruction  a  child  is  never  an  inde- 
pendent agent ;  he  neither  seeks 
knowledge  of  liimself,  nor,  unaided, 
encounters  any  of  the  difficulties  op- 
posed to  its  acquisition.  His  mind 
leans  continually  on  the  mind  of  his 
teacher ;  and,  unaccustomed  to  sup- 
port itself,  if  some  other  state  be  not 
made  to  alternate  with  this,  it  goes 
with  difficulty  alone.  A  child  thus 
taught  may  leave  school  with  attain- 
ments positively  great  in  amount, 
but  without  the  desire  to  add  to 
them  or  to  apply  them.  It  is  the 
well-balanced  union  of  the  two 
methods,  of  oral  instruction  by  the 
master  and  self-instruction  by  the 
child, — the  former  being  pursued  in 
the  school,  and  the  latter  prescribed 
by  the  master,  but  pursued  during 
the  child's  leisure  hours  at  home, — 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOEIiD. 


175 


that  the  secret  of  elementary  educa- 
tion appears  to  consist. 

539.  Secure  Affection.  —  Eeli- 
gious  teaching,  beyond  every  other 
kind  of  teaching,  depends  for  its  suc- 
cess upon  the  good  will  and  affection 
of  the  pupil.  There  are  many  reasons 
for  this.  In  the  first  place,  attend- 
ance upon  religious  instruction  is 
voluntary  to  a  much  greater  extent 
than  attendance  upon  other  studies. 
Then,  it  is  one  of  the  direct  effects 
of  sin  to  make  the  mind  averse  to  re- 
ligious knowledge.  Sin,  moreover,  has 
vitiated  the  taste  and  corrupted  the 
judgment,  so  that  there  are  no  topics 
on  which  even  children  have  so  much 
to  unlearn  as  they  do  on  those  con- 
nected with  religion.  The  subject, 
therefore,  more  than  most  subjects, 
needs  to  be  made  attractive.  Now 
nothing  so  gilds  any  theme  as  love 
for  the  one  who  propounds  it.  Love 
is  indeed  a  great  beautifier.  It  makes 
the  plainest  pictures  comely,  the 
dullest  subject  entertaining.  The 
teacher  who  has  'the  love  of  his 
scholars  may  lead  them  through  al- 
most any  path,  however  hard  or 
straight.  Wherever  he  goes,  they  will 
follow. — Dr.  Hart. 

540.  To  Eespect  Teachers. — It 
is  of  considerable  moment  that,  as 
the  children  are  required  to  respect 
their  instructors,  they  should  be  in- 
variably taught  to  do  this  by  the 
example  of  the  teachers  mutually 
respecting  each  other.  And  as  it  is 
one  object  of  Sunday-school  instruc- 
tion, though  not  the  ultimate  one,  to 
check  what  is  rude,  and  polish  what 
is  rough,  in  the  manners  of  the  chil- 
dren, it  is  of  no  small  consequence 
that,  in  the  conduct  of  their  teachers, 
they  should  constantly  have  before 
their  eyes  models  of  kindness  and 
respect. — J.  A.  James. 

541.  Children,  Observe.  —  Yet 
more  young  hearts  are  wounded  by 


the  unchristian  conduct  of  their 
teachers  than  many  suppose.  Child- 
hood is  confiding.  It  takes  its  teachers 
upon  trust.  It  beUeves  all  they  say, 
and  looks  with  reverence  upon  all 
they  do,  until  taught  otherwise  by 
bitter  experience.  J^ot  merely  on 
the  Sabbath,  and  in  the  class,  but 
during  the  week,  and  in  all  his  daily 
business  and  intercourse,  the  teacher 
is  observed  by  his  pupils.  When  they 
do  not  see  him,  they  hear  of  him  from 
others.  Whatever  is  said  of  him 
their  greedy  ears  drink  in.  His  dress, 
his  gait,  his  manners,  his  style  of 
living,  his  style  of  conversation,  Ids 
choice  of  company,  whatever  he  says 
or  does,  or  leaves  undone,  in  the 
presence  of  others,  throughout  the 
entire  week,  constitute  a  part  of  his 
course  of  instruction  to  his  class. 
They  may  not  know  it  all,  as  indeed 
they  do  not  hear  all  he  tells  them 
with  his  own  mouth  on  the  Sabbath. 
But  much  of  it  they  do  know.  There 
is  a  common  fame  that  goes  out  in 
regard  to  every  man,  and  none  so 
soon  and  so  surely  gather  it  up  as  a 
man's  scholars,  and  whatever  they 
thus  know  about  a  man  is  a  part  of 
his  lesson  to  them.  It  may  perhaps 
be  thought  a  hard  condition  of  the 
office  of  teacher,  but  it  cannot  be 
helped.  It  is  a  part  of  the  consti- 
tution of  things,  as  much  as  the  law 
of  gravitation.  This  indirect,  uncon- 
scious tuition  is  going  on  all  the 
while. — Dr.  Hart. 

542.  Effect  of  Scholars'  Appre- 
ciation.—  ''Our  superintendent  re- 
signed at  the  close  of  the  year,"  said 
a  member  of  a  Sabbath-school,  "but 
the  children  would  not  let  him  go. 
They  think  no  one  could  take  his 
place."  A  knowledge  of  the  circum- 
stances proved  that  the  little  folks 
were  in  the  right  of  the  matter.  There 
was  no  one  in  the  congregation  or  com- 
munity that  had  the  special  ability 
for  the  place  that  this  man  possessed, 


176 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


and  though  lie  had  held  the  place  j 
term  after  term  the  Yoiee    of   the 
children  was  too  nnanimous  to  be 
lightly  put    aside.      The   magnetic  I 
quality  of  leadership,  though  it  may 
be  deyeloped  sometimes  where  least ; 
expected,  is  undeniably  a  gift,   and 
though  a  rotation  in  office  in  many  , 
respects  is  advisable,  good  is  some- 
times lost  by  making  the  practice 
arbitary.    Ee-election  is  an  excellent 
prerogatiye,  and  perhaps  no  cii'cum- 
stance  could  more  gratefully  imply 
the  eminent  fitness  of  the  proceeding 
than  such  united  voice   among  the 
little  ones,  whose  happy  faces,  punc- 
tual attendance,  and  earnest  atten- 
tion so  well  attested  childlike  sim-  j 
plicity  and  sincerity. — M.  E.  C. 

543.  Power  of  Example. — The' 
power  of  example  is  felt  in  no ; 
subject  more  than  in  religion,  and  no  j 
religious  persons,  as  a  class,  are 
more  looked  to  than  Sabbath-school  I 
teachers.  They  are,  whether  rightly ' 
or  wrongly,  considered  as  being 
more  decidedly  religious  than  or- 
dinary members  of  the  church.  The 
young  especially  look  to  them  as 
examples.  The  power  of  this  feeling 
in  a  child's  mind  is  very  great.  Xo 
presentation  of  truth  in  maturer 
years  ever  brings  it  with  such  power 
upon  the  heart  and  conscience  as 
this  living  example  of  the  teacher 
of  his  childhood.  So  also  nothing 
sooner  shakes  the  faith  of  childhood 
than  any  dereliction  of  duty  on  the 
part  of  a  religious  teacher.  I  knew 
some  years  since  a  most  painful 
instance  of  this.  The  teacher  of  a 
class  of  boys  in  a  Sabbath- school 
was  detected  in  a  gross  crime,  and 
had  to  flee  from  the  country.  He  had 
been  very  active  in  his  religious 
duties,  and  his  scholars  were  com- 
pletely wrapped  up  in  him.  They 
thought  him  almost  perfection.  He 
was  to  them  a  living  gospel.  The 
father  of  one   of  the   boys,   having 


heard  of  the  crime,  and  fearing  the 
efiect  the  knowledge  of  it  might  pro- 
duce upon  his  child,  took  pains  to 
break  the  discovery  to  him  gradually 
and  cautiously.  The  little  fellow 
was  on  the  floor  at  the  time,  amusing 
himself  with  some  childish  game. 
When  the  announcement  was  made, 
the  moment  the  real  truth  flashed 
upon  his  mind  he  started  as  if 
struck  with  sudden  pain,  his  play- 
things dropped  instantly  from  his 
hands,  a  cry  of  distress  rose  from 
his  Hps,  he  turned  pale  as  if  about 
to  faint.  It  was  weeks  and  months 
before  his  moral  nature  recovered 
from  the  shock.  The  whole  church 
with  which  this  teacher  was  con- 
nected was  in  mourning  over  his 
fall.  But  I  doubt  whether  any  one, 
outside  of  his  own  family,  felt  it  so 
deeply  as  this  young,  wounded 
heart. — Dr.  Hart. 

544.  Children's  Penetration.  — 
"In  my  intercourse  with  the  chil- 
!  dren  I  have  met  with  many  in- 
j  stances  of  uncommon  quickness  of 
I  intellect  and  strength  of  memory. 
I  have  met  with  more  than  one 
[  who  at  the  age  of  three  years  would 
j  learn  any  common  tune  in  a  very 
I  short  time,  and  others  at  the  same 

■  age  who  would  very  soon  commit  to 
,  memory  long  chapters  without  any 
!  apparent     difficulty.       There     is    a 

■  little  girl  only  five  and  a  half  years 
old  who  can  repeat  distinctly  above 
one  hundred  chapters,  and  goes  on 

j  learning  a  chapter  every  week,  be- 
sides  the  Catechism,  and  searching 

I  the  Scriptures  for  passages  on 
different  points  in  divinity. —  Charles 
of  Jjala. 


AWKWAED  SCHOLAES. 

545.  The  Scholar  who  does  not 
learn. — The  lad  is  tolerably  regular 
in  his  attendance  at  Sunday-school, 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


177 


and  cannot  be  complained  of  for  dis-  ' 
order eriy  or  rebellious  conduct.     In  j 
many  things  he  is  a  pattern  for  the  , 
other  scholars.     He  seems  to  learn.  > 
He  often  knows  his  lesson,  or  at  any 
rate  has  a  sort  of  external  acquaint-  i 
ance  with  it.     On  special  occasions,  ' 
if  a  prize  is  to  be  struggled  for,  he  , 
struggles,  and  sometimes  wins.  TThat  \ 
is  the  matter  with  him  ?    Simply  one  ' 
thing.  He  lacks  application.  Instead 
of    studiously   applying   himself   to 
what  was  before  him,  with  a  deter-  , 
mination  to  master  it,  he  has  been ! 
dreamily  napping  away  the  precious 
houi's  of  instruction,   only  waking 
up  once  in  a  while  to  stretch  himself 
and  stuff  in  a  little  show  of  learning. 
He  has  supposed  that  the  machinery 
of  the  Sunday-school  would  somehow 
or  other  pound  learning  into  him,  in 
spite  of  his  absent-minded  thought- 
lessness and  wandering  inattention. 
He  expected  to  wake  up  some  day  and 
find  himseK  a  well-instructed  person. 
If  he  does  not  wake  up,  the  proba- 
bility is  that  he  will  be  a  dunce  all 
his  life.     His  condition  has  all  along 
been  one  of  passive  reception.     He 
has  received  much.     He  has  given 
nothing.     He  has  had  vast  heaps  of 
instruction  poured  into  him.    He  has 
never  poured  any  of  it  out  on  others. 
It  never   occurred  to  him   that  he 
might  make  use  of  his  learning  as  he 
went  along.     It  has  gone  in  at  his 
ears  and  out  at  the  top  of  his  head. 
Had  it  gone  out  by  his  mouth,  some- 
body might  have  been  the  better  for 
it ;  some  younger  brother,  or  sister, 
or  an  ignorant  parent,  perhaps.    But 
it  has  all  evaporated ;   it  has  been 
wasted,  as  fine  perfumery  is  wasted 
when  care  is  not  taken  to  cork  the 
bottle.     All  the  instruction  that  can 
be  thrust  into  a  boy  will  do  him  no 
good,  except  with  careful  intellectual 
digestion.  As  food  swallowed  in  large 
chunks,  and  in  such  quantities  as  to 
be  impossible  to  digest,  will  ruin  the 
physical  constitution,  so  will  undi- 


gested learning  prove  to  be  so  much 
trash,  clogging  the  mind,  and  ren- 
dering it  unfit  for  the  noble  and  holy 
purposes  for  which  the  Creator  de- 
signed it.  ' '  Fools  despise  wisdom 
and  instruction." — Taylor. 

546.  The  EebeUious  Scholar.— 
At  the  time  of  the  opening  of  school 
he  is  not  in  his  seat.     The  teacher 
experiences  a  feeling  of  relief  on  ac- 
count of  his  absence,  and  goes  so  far 
as  to  hope  that  he  has  taken  a  notion 
into   his  head  to  stay  away.     The 
teacher's  feeling  of  relief  at  his  ab- 
sence is  of  short  duration.     During 
the  opening  prayer  a  smart  banging 
is  heard  at  the  door,  which  gives  notice 
of  the  rebellious  disciple's  wrath  at 
being  locked  out.     The  door  being 
opened  in  due  time,  in  he  strides, 
pounding   his   heavy  boots    on   the 
floor,  in  such  a  way  as  to  announce 
to  the  whole  school  that  he  has  come, 
and  is  determined  to  annoy  some- 
body.    He  delights  to  make  a  dis- 
turbance.     Upsetting    any    of    the 
teacher's  plans  he   considers  a  feat 
worthy  of  any  risk  in  performing. 
Insulting  the  superintendent  aftords 
him  great  pleasure.     AYhen  a  speech 
is   made,    especially  if  it  is  a  dull 
speech,  he  applauds  violently  with 
his  boots,  sometimes  adding  a  shrill 
whistle,  which  he  learnt   fi'om  the 
boys  at  the   theatre.      During   the 
singing,  he  likes  to  confuse  the  musi- 
cians, by  volunteering   all   sorts  of 
uncouth  noises.     He  is  beyond  quiet 
mischief.    He  would  scorn  sly  pranks 
on  the  officers  of  the  school  or  his 
fellow-scholars,  preferring  to  set  the 
whole    concern    at    open     defiance. 
Tame  him.     That  is  what  must  be 
done  with  him.     *'  Tame  him  f  "  says 
teacher ;  ^ '  why,  I  would  rather  try 
to   tame  a  bison."     Then  he   must 
have  another  teacher.     He  needs  a 
good,    kind,  firm,  able-bodied,   and 
able-minded  teacher,  who  will  love 
him,    yet  hold  him  with   a  strong 


178 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOBLD. 


hand.  He  must  be  tamed  as  the 
great  Rarey  tames  horses.  Show 
him  that  you  love  him,  and  are 
working  for  his  good,  both  of  body 
and  soul;  but  let  him  understand 
that  you  have  entire  control  over 
him,  and  that  you  mean  to  exercise 
it,  if  necessary.  As  you  are  taming 
hitn,  put  in  a  little  Gospel  instruc- 
tion from  time  to  time,  increasing  in 
amount  as  you  get  him  tamer  and 
tamer.  The  boy  will  be  an  earnest 
boy,  and  when  he  grows  up  will  be 
an  earnest  man.  He  will  probably 
be  a  very  bad  man,  or  else  a  very 
good  man :  a  very  useful  man,  or  a 
continual  nuisance.  But  it  all  de- 
pends on  how  he  is  treated  now. 
Look  well  to  him,  teacher.  "With 
prayerful  patience,  firmness,  and 
diligence,  he  may  be  made  a  Chris- 
tian.—  Taylor. 

547.  The  Oareless  Scholar.— 
Utter  indLfference  to  everything  that 
is  going  on  is  the  most  prominent 
character  of  the  young  man  who 
stands  before  us.  He  is  always 
satisfied,  and  ofiers  no  special  oppo- 
sition to  anything,  good  or  bad. 
''  Don't  care  "  is  the  rule  of  his  life, 
so  far  as  his  life  goes  according  to 
rule.  But  he  does  not  believe  in 
rules  and  regulations  of  any  kind, 
thinking  them  rather  a  hindrance 
than  a  help.  Of  course,  he  is  neither 
regular  nor  punctual  in  his  attendance 
at  Sunday-school.  He  does  not  care 
whether  he  is  early  or  late,  whether 
he  is  present  or  absent.  He  considers 
it  no  disgrace  to  be  habitually  late, 
and  no  loss  to  be  absent  for  several 
Sundays  at  a  time.  This  lad  is  a 
very  undesirable  scholar  in  every 
respect.  Instruction  seems  to  be 
thrown  away  on  him.  The  teacher 
may  instruct,  exhort,  expound,  argue, 
and  lend  him  good  books.  He  will 
not  listen  to  what  is  said  to  him,  and 
when  he  takes  books  it  is  only  to  soil  or 
lose  them,  or  to  return  them  unread. 


In  the  latter  case  he  often  says  they 
are  very  interesting.  He  pretends 
to  listen,  and  pretends  to  read,  but 
his  mind  is  off  on  a  butterfly  buzz, 
while  his  outer  man  is  in  a  position 
of  attention.  Ask  him  to-day  what 
you  told  him  yesterday,  and  he  has 
forgotten.  He  says  the  minister 
preached  an  uncommonly  fine  sermon 
last  Sunday ;  but  ask  him  what  it 
was  about,  or  where  the  text  was, 
and  you  soon  discover  that  he  knows 
nothing  about  it.  Send  him  on  an 
errand,  and  before  he  is  out  of  sight 
he  has  forgotten  the  message  you 
gave  him.  And  the  worst  of  it  is 
that,  mth  all  his  absent-minded 
thoughtlessness,  he  is  so  pleasant  and 
so  polite  that  you  do  not  lUie  to  box 
his  ears,  or  treat  him  exactly  as  you 
would  treat  the  violent  bad  boy. 
But  he  is  really  harder  to  deal  with 
than  the  quarrelsome  and  disorderly. 
The  sum  of  his  arguments  and  ex- 
cuses for  his  various  shortcomings  is,^ 
"  DichiH  think:''  He  thinks  it  is 
enough.  Nobody  else  thinks  so, 
though.  I  once  heard  an  aged  negro 
slave  pray  after  sermon,  "  0  Lord, 
please  to  mind  and  make  us  re- 
member to  try  and  not  forget  de 
word  of  de  Gospel  what  we  just  done 
listened  to."  If  the  careless  scholar 
will  earnestly  pray  such  a  prayer, 
and  follow  it  up,  there  is  hope  for 
him. — Taylor. 

548.  The  Precocious  Scholar. — 
This  young  gentleman  is  twelve  years 
old.  At  five  he  knew  by  heart  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount,  the  first 
chapter  of  John,  and  the  one  hundred 
and  nineteenth  Psalm ;  all  without 
missing  a  word.  At  seven  he  did 
sums  in  the  rule  of  three,  and  several 
other  rules.  Now  he  knows  by  rote 
the  whole  book  of  Isaiah,  nearly  all 
the  New  Testament,  and  a  great 
many  psalms  ;  also  a  great  variety  of 
addresses,  dialogues,  and  other  semi- 
religious  literatiu-e.     The  other  chU- 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


179 


dren  look  upon  him  as  a  miracle  of 
wisdom.  He  is  pale,  lantern-jawed, 
and  stoop-shouldered.  His  eyes  have 
not  the  cheerful  sparkle  that  a  boy's 
eyes  should  have.  He  does  not  know 
how  to  shout,  to  run,  to  spin  a  top, 
to  swim,  or  to  row  a  boat.  He  and 
his  parents  regard  all  such  exercises 
as  the  portion  of  rude  and  naughty 
boys.  Turn  over  a  new  leaf.  Enough 
learning  has  been  pumped  into  the 
poor  creature  to  last  for  several  years 
to  come.  He  wants  exercise,  recrea- 
tion, and  fresh  air.  He  wants  less 
brain  work,  and  more  muscle  work. 
Don't  take  all  his  books  away  from 
him,  for  that  will  make  him  very 
miserable.  But  take  all  except  two 
or  three.  Take  him  away  from 
school  for  a  while,  and  put  him  on  a 
farm.  He  will  enjoy  his  life.  Then, 
when  you  have  made  him  something 
like  a  boy  should  be,  start  again. 
Give  him  a  moderate  course  of  books, 
combined  with  a  moderate  course  of 
exercise.  But  see  that  the  exercise 
does  not  consist  in  solitary  hours  of 
swinging  dumb  bells,  or  climbing  a 
pole  in  the  dark  garret.  That  is  a 
dismal  business.  Make  it  cheerful 
and  social,  and  it  will  work  the  de- 
sired end.  What  has  all  this  to  do 
with  Sunday-schools  ?  Simply  this, 
that  if  we  want  to  do  good  to  the 
souls  of  our  children,  we  must  see 
that  the  earthly  tabernacle  in  which 
the  soul  lives  is  in  such  tenantable 
order  that  the  soul  can  thrive  in  it. 
If  professors,  judges,  and  ministers 
are  to  be  raised  up  from  our  Sunday- 
schools,  let  us  take  care  to  raise  up, 
not  lean- fleshed,  cadaverous  prodi- 
gies of  stuffed  wisdom,  but  men  with 
healthy  bodies  and  vigorous  minds, 
who  shall  be  a  credit  to  a  nation  of 
freemen  and  to  the  Church  of  Christ. 
— Taylor. 

549.  The  Lazy  Scholar. — In  the 
morning  he  is  a  lag-a-bed.  At  noon 
he  stretches  himself.    In  the  evening 


he  gapes  and  yawns,  and  says  he  is 
tired.  Of  course  he  is  tired.  The 
hardest  work  anybody  can  have  is 
to  have  nothing  to  do.  What  kind 
of  Sunday-school  boy  does  he  make  ? 
Poor  enough.  He  comes  sauntering 
into  school  at  about  the  same  rate  of 
speed  as  the  cows  walk  when  they 
are  going  home  to  be  milked.  Only 
that  he  is  not  so  punctual  as  an 
orderly  cow.  He  says  that  he  and 
the  rest  of  the  family  had  so  much  to 
do  this  morning  that  they  could  not 
get  through  it  in  time.  His  teacher 
asks  him  if  they  could  not  have  ac- 
complished it  all  in  time  by  getting 
up  earlier.  He  is  startled  at  the 
novelty  of  the  idea,  and  thinks  it 
might  be  a  good  thing.  It  would  be 
unreasonable  to  expect  this  young 
person  to  learn  any  lessons.  He  is 
so  hard  at  work,  doing  nothing,  that 
he  has  no  time  to  study  or  think. 
He  comes  to  school  entirely  unpre- 
pared. He  tells  the  teacher  that  the 
lesson  was  so  hard.  Teacher  asks 
him  if  he  looked  to  see  how  hard  it 
was,  and  finds  that  he  did  not.  The 
consequence  of  this  habit  of  neglect  of 
study  is,  that  he  knows  less  about  the 
Bible  than  a  decent  Zulu  does.  What 
is  he  good  for  ?  How  shall  we  make 
him  learn  any  thing?  He  wants 
rousing,  pushing,  stimulating.  But 
how  shall  we  get  into  him  ?  He  is 
covered  with  indolence  as  with  a 
garment,  even  as  thick  a  garment 
as  the  alligator's  hide.  But  even  an 
alligator  has  some  weak  spots.  So 
this  slow  boy  may  be  accessible  to 
some  varieties  of  reward  or  punish- 
ment. Try  him  first  on  the  reward. 
Not  to  reward  him  for  being  idle. 
That  would  be  unprofitable  and  ex- 
pensive. Perhaps  he  may  be  induced 
to  do  something  worthy  of  reward, 
or  at  least  of  commendation.  Lead 
him  that  far,  and  it  is'  a  great  step 
in  his  progress.  But  if  no  re- 
ward will  move  him,  apply  a  stimu- 
lant of  the  hornet's  nest  order  to  him ; 


180 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WORLD. 


give  him  a  good  dose  of  it,  and  make 
him  move  on.  There  is  hope  for  him. 
if  he  is  properly  treated. — Taylor. 

550.  The   Mischievous   Scholar. 
— He  is  not  a  positively  vicious  boy, 
yet  his  desire  for  practical  fun  de- 
velops itself  in  such  a  way  that  those 
who   are   annoyed  by  it   naturally 
think  he  is  very  bad.     He  goes  to 
Sunday-school  principally  for  the  fun 
of  it.     He  has  no  religious  under- 
standing, and  cannot  discern  things 
in    a  religious   light.      Instruction 
seems  to  be  wasted  on  him.     Some 
of  the  teachers   shake  their  heads 
when  his  name  is  mentioned,  and  say 
that  he  is  a  bad  boy.     Others  say 
that  possibly  something  may  be  made 
out  of  the  fellow  yet.      It  is  true 
that  his  pranks  are  a  great  cause  of 
disturbance    to    the    whole    school. 
During  prayer  time  he  appears  to  be 
devoutly  joining  in  the  prayer,  but 
is    furtively    amusing     himself    by 
creaking  the  bench  so  as  to  make  a 
noise.  The  superintendent  has  offered 
a  reward  for  the  boy  who  thus  an- 
noys the  school,  but  nobody  can  find 
out  who  it  is.     Sometimes  he  waits 
outside  during  the  opening  exercises, 
to  make  a  noise  by  stamping  in  just 
as  the  lesson  commences.     He  gene- 
rally comes  with  entire  ignorance  of 
where  the  lesson  is,  or  what  it  is 
about,  and  pretends  to  manifest  a 
great  desire  for  information  on  both 
these  points.    He  is  sharp  and  quick, 
and  is  sure  to  catch  his  teacher  in  a 
blunder  if  teacher  makes  any.     He 
considers  this  a  great  triumph  over 
the  teacher,  and  arranges  the  time 
and  manner  of  his  triumph  so  that 
the  rest  of  the  class  shall  know  it. 
If  the  teacher  comes  late,  this  boy 
will  crow  over  it  for  a  month,  and 
come  late  for  several  Sundays  him- 
self, that  he  may  have  the  enjoyment 
of  pleading  his  teacher's  example. 
In  singing,  he  pretends  that  he  does 
not  know  the  tune,  but  is  trying  to 


learn  it,  and  makes  such  ludicrous 
attempts  to  learn  that  the  other 
boys  laugh,  sometimes  causing  the 
singing  to  break  down,  which  amuses 
him  all  the  more.  But  the  energy 
and  smartness  which  now  show  them- 
selves only  in  these  naughty  doings 
may  be  the  foundation  of  that  which, 
if  properly  guided,  may  be  a  very 
useful  character.  Turn  him  out,  and 
he  is  lost.  Keep  him,  show  him  that 
you  love  him,  and  he  will  gradually 
cease  his  pranks.  Tell  him  distinctly 
that  his  mischief  is  all  wrong,  but 
do  not  crush  him.  He  must  be 
'  caught  with  guile.'  Have  patience 
with  him. — Taylor. 

551.  Eefractory  Scholars. — How 
shall  we  deal  with  them  ?  First  seek 
the  blessing  of  God  on  any  means 
you  may  resort  to.     Never  think  of 
undertaking  the  work  without  it„ 
This  will  make  you  feel  in  some  mea- 
sure as  you  should  the  solemn  im- 
portance  of  your  task.      Then   go 
about  it  cheerfully,  hopefully.   With 
a  smile  of  kindness  enter  the  homes 
of  the  bad  scholars,  make  yourself 
acquainted  with  the  influences  that 
surround  them,  and  base  your  future 
efforts   on  that  knowledge.      Then 
follow  them  with  smiles  and  words 
of  friendly  interest.     Do  not  aUude 
to  their    faults    too    frequently    or 
directly,  but  show  the  more  excellent 
way,  that  it  may  appear  more  excel- 
lent to  the  scholar.    A  simple,  loving 
note  or   letter  would  often  prove  a 
wonderful  lever.     Many  such  scho- 
lars never  have  known  what  it  is  to 
receive  a  letter.     Then  invite  your 
bad  boy  to  visit  you.    Introduce  him 
to  your  children,  or  to  your  father, 
your  mother,  your  own  home  circle. 
Lend  him  a  book.     Throw  around 
him,   in    short,    the    social    power. 
Draw   him    under    your    influence. 
Ensnare  him  in  the  net  of  love,  and 
you  may  win  biTn  to  love  you,  to 
love  the  school,  and  to  love  Christ. 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WOKLD. 


181 


All  this  will  be  difficult  to  do.  But 
once  set  your  heart  on  doing  it,  and 
nothing  will  resist  you. — B. 

552,  Wilful  Children.— Be  sure 
to  give  no  commands  of  which  you 
cannot  enforce  obedience.  The  powers 
of  resistance  possessed  by  some  little 
children  are  truly  extraordinary ;  be 
careful  not  to  arouse  them.  A  spirit 
of  antagonism  is  most  dangerous, 
and,  once  awakened,  may  never 
again  become  dormant  through  life. 
Once  let  a  child  conquer  you,  and  it 
will  never  forget  the  lesson.  Let 
your  commands,  then,  be  few,  and 
insist  on  obedience  to  them. 

553.  A  Good  Plan. — At  a  time 
of  religious  interest  among  the  chil  - 
dren  in  a  city  of  Massachusetts,  U.S., 
a  very  bad  boy  came  into  one  of  the 
meetings,  seemingly  on  purpose  to 
make  disturbance.  He  occasioned 
so  much  trouble  that  a  superinten- 
dent of  one  of  the  Sunday-schools 
left  his  seat  and  went  across  the 
church  to  sit  near  him  to  keep  him 
quiet.  By  that  time  other  bad  boys 
had  joined  him,  and  all  his  efforts 
to  keep  them  decently  quiet  were 
in  vain.  He  finally  told  them  that 
if  they  did  not  cease  to  annoy  the 
meeting  he  should  report  them  to 
the  minister,  and  he  soon  found  it 
necessary  to  do  this.  Instead  of 
reproving  them  for  their  misconduct, 
I  simply  said,  ' '  We  will  not  scold 
at  them,  but  let  us  stop  and  pray 
for  them."  All  heads  were  then 
bowed  in  silence,  when  a  brief  prayer 
was  offered  that  the  Holy  Spirit 
might  convince  them  of  their  sin  and 
lead  them  to  love  the  precious 
Saviour.  The  address  to  the  chil- 
dren was  then  continued  without 
any  further  interruption.  "While 
Sunday-school  teachers  and  others 
remained  that  afternoon  to  talk  with 
those  who  wished,  at  once,  personally 
to  be  pointed  to  the  Saviour  and 
prayed  with,  sixty- two  children  who 


believed  they  had  found  peace  in 
Jesus,  mostly  under  twelve  years  of 
age,  gathered  of  their  own  accord 
in  a  side  room  for  a  prayer  meeting. 
After  a  few  moments,  as  I  entered 
the  room,  I  found  them  all  upon 
their  knees,  engaged  in  prayer. 
Four  little  boys,  ten  or  twelve  years 
of  age,  followed  each  other  in  most 
earnest  pleadings,  especially  that  that 
bad  boy  might  be  led  to  repent  of 
his  sins  and  believe  in  Jesus.  They 
had  been  asked  in  the  meeting  which 
they  had  just  left,  when  they  went 
home  to  pray  for  the  bad  boy ;  but 
it  seemed  they  could  not  wait  till 
they  reached  their  homes,  but,  as 
I  could  not  but  think,  "led  by  the 
Spirit  of  God,"  they  had  gathered 
that  they  might  unitedly  plead  for 
the  conversion  of  that  wicked  boy. 
....  A  few  days  after  I  received  a 
letter  from  that  very  boy,  which  read 
something  as  follows:  "I  want  to 
tell  you  how  I  found  Jesus.  I  have 
been  a  very  wicked  boy.  I  would 
never  do  as  my  parents  told  me.  I 
was  one  of  those  bad  boys  who 
disturbed  the  meeting  that  after- 
noon when  Mr.  E reported  us 

to  you.  You  stopped  and  prayed 
for  us,  and  after  Christians  prayed 
for  us  I  felt  that  I  was  a  great 
sinner  not  to  love  the  dear  Saviour 
who  died  on  the  cross  for  us.  But 
He  has  forgiven  me  all  my  sins,  and 
I  love  Him  now,  and  I  love  to  pray 
to  Him  and  to  read  my  Bible. — 
Your  little  Friend."  As  that 
letter  was  read  in  the  daily  morning 
prayer  meeting  shortly  after,  a 
gentleman  rose,  and  with  much 
emotion  said:  "It  was  my  boy  who 
wrote  that  letter.  He  has  been  a 
very  bad  boy,  and  at  times  almost 
broke  my  heart.  But  I  do  believe 
that  the  Holy  Spirit  has  convinced 
him  of  sin,  and  led  him  to  the 
Saviour.  If  there  are  any  here  who 
have  not  faith  in  the  conversion  of 
children,  I  wish    they   could    have 


182 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WOPwLD. 


been  at  my  house  last  night  and 
heard  this  hoy  and  a  dozen  others 
engage  in  Sprayer.  I  conld  scarcely 
believe  my  own  ears.  Why,"  said 
he,  "Brethren,  these  children  seem 
to  know  a  great  deal  more  about 
real  praying  than  we  do.  They  just 
ask  God  in  Jesus'  name  for  what 
they  leant,  arid  then  stop.  I  felt 
ashamed  of  my  old  formal  prayers, 
and  resolved  to  throio  them  all  away 
and  get  some  new  ones.  It  seemed 
as  if  I  needed  to  be  *  converted' 
again,  and  to  'become  like  little  chil- 
dren.' "  This  and  much  more  was 
uttered  with  a  tearful  tenderness 
which  quite  melted  all  the  hundreds 
in  that  morning  prayer  meeting. — 
E.  Pay  son  Hammond. 

554.  Another  ExamjDle. — A  Ger- 
man teacher  named  Jeremiah  Flate, 
tells  this  story.  He  says :  Fifty 
years  I  was  master  of  the  Orphan 
Asylum  in  Stuttgard,  and  had  a 
whole  room  full  of  children  to  in- 
struct. It  was  my  custom  to  pray 
every  morning  for  meekness  and  pa- 
tience in  the  fulfilment  of  this  ardu- 
ous duty.  One  day,  as  I  was  walk- 
ing up  and  down  among  the  children, 
I  observed  a  boy  about  twelve  years 
of  age  leaning  with  both  his  elbows 
upon  the  table.  I  reproved  him  for 
this  improper  behaviour  and  walked 
on.  The  next  time  I  passed  he  was 
doing  the  same  thing,  and  I  was' 
obliged  to  repeat  my  desire  that  he 
should  take  his  arms  off  the  table. 
He  obeyed  me  for  a  moment;  but 
when  I  returned  for  the  third  time  I 
found  him  angry  and  perverse,  and 
could  read  in  his  face  that  he  was 
determined  to  despise  my  orders,  I 
was  much  annoj^ed,  but  restrained 
myself,  and  prayed  inwardly  for 
strength  to  exercise  patience  toward 
this  poor  child,  even  as  my  God  had 
been  patient  toward  me.  My  ill- 
humour  vanished  immediately;  I 
became  calm,   and  was  enabled  to 


continue  my  instructions.     The  boy 
obstinately  remained  in    the    same 
attitude,  but  I  took  no  notice  of  him. 
When   school  was   over   I   sent  for 
him  into  my  study,  praying  in  the 
mean  time  for  wisdom  and  compo- 
sure of  mind.     He  stamped  in,  and 
banged  the  door  after  him  in  a  vio- 
lent passion.     *'  Why  did  you  bang 
the   door   so    violently?"    I   asked. 
"  I   did  not  bang  it,"  he  replied. 
''  Yes,  you  did  bang  it,  my  boy," 
said  I.     ''I  teU  you  I  did  not,"  was 
the  answer.     Upon  this  I  went  up 
to  him,  took  his   hand,  and  asked 
him,  in   a  gentle  voice,    ' '  Do  you 
know,  my  son,   against  whom  you 
are  sinning  ?     It  is  not  against  me, 
but  against  your  Saviour,  your  best 
friend.     Examine  yourself,  and  try 
to  find  out  why  you  have  behaved 
in  this  manner."     The  boy's  heart 
was   touched;    he  burst  into  tears, 
and    entreated    me    to   forgive    his 
wicked  behaviour.      ' '  I  had  deter- 
mined this  morning,"  continued  he, 
"  to  tease  you  by  my  disobedience 
till   you  should  beat  me,  thinking 
you  would  suffer  much  more  from  it 
than  I  should.     Pray,  pray  forgive 
me.     I  shall  never  do  so  again  in  all 
my  life."    I  pointed  out  to  him  from 
what  a  great  temptation  he  had  been 
delivered,  and  then  dismissed  him, 
with  the  assurance  that  I  had  long 
since  forgiven  him.    He  left  me,  but 
still  appeared  almost  inconsolable.  In 
the   afternoon,   having  finished  my 
classes,  I  was  sitting  alone   in  my 
little  study  when  I  heard  a  knock 
at  the  door.     The  boy  came  in,  his 
eyes  red  with  weeping  ;  and,  saying 
it  was  impossible  I  could  have  for- 
given   him,    for    he    had    behaved 
toward  me  like  a  devil,  he  begged  I 
would  tell  him  once  more  that  I  had 
forgiven  him,  repeating  that  he  would 
never  vex  me  again,  not  even  by  a 
look.     I  again  assured  him  of  my 
full   forgiveness,  but  told   him    he 
must  ask  pardon  of   his    Saviour, 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL  WORLD. 


183 


against  whom  he  had  chiefly  sinned, 
and  who  would  certainly  hear  his 
prayer  if  his  repentance  was  sincere. 
The  boy,  however,  left  me,  still  cry- 
ing. I  had  scarcely  risen  the  next 
morning  when  my  little  penitent 
came  again,  crying  so  bitterly  that 
I  was  quite  astonished.  He  said  the 
remembrance  of  his  conduct  the  day 
before  had  prevented  his  sleeping, 
and  entreated  me,  with  his  whole 
heart,  to  continue  to  love  him  as  I 
had  done  before.  He  could  not 
imagine  what  had  led  him  to  form 
such  a  naughty  resolution,  and  as- 
sured me  he  had  determined  not  to 
allow  any  punishment  to  overcome 
his  obstinacy,  but  had  been  quite 
unable  to  resist  the  kind  and  gentle 
means  I  had  used  to  convince  him  of 
his  fault.  He  begged  me  to  tell  him 
how  it  had  been  possible  for  me  to 
bear  with  this  wicked  behaviour  as 
I  had  done.  To  this  I  answered: 
"  Dear  child,  I  cannot  explain  that 
to  you ;  but,  if  I  must  express  it  to 
you  in  a  few  words,  it  is  because  I 
have  myself  received  much  mercy 
from  the  Lord  that  I  have  been  en- 
abled to  show  mercy  toward  you." 
Thus  spoke  this  venerable  man,  and 
concluded  with  the  satisfactory  in- 
telligence that  the  boy  had  from  that 
day  become  his  best  scholar,  and  was 
still  living  in  Stuttgard,  esteemed  by 
all  who  knew  him  as  an  honest  and 
virtuous  citizen. 

555.  To  be  Avoided. — ]N'ow  to 
the  class.  Passing  near  a  Sunday- 
school  teacher,  only  a  week  or  two 
ago,  I  heard  the  remark  uttered  to  a 
tolerably  bright,  but  inattentive  lad, 
"There,  now,  you  idle  child!  you 
haven't  learned  your  lesson  !  just 
like  you,  you  never  learn  your  lesson ! 
I  don't  know  what  is  going  to  become 
of  you,  sir!"  The  discouraged  boy 
bit  his  thumb,  and  hung  his  head, 
sharing  in  the  ignorance  of  his 
teacher   as   to  what   was  going    to 


become  of  him,  but  suspecting  that 
some  evil  fate  must  be  in  store  for 
one  who  merited  such  a  withering 
rebuke. 

556.  The  Pirst  Lesson  from  a 
Bad  Teacher. — '<I  have  a  distinct 
remembrance  of  the  first  lesson  I 
learned  in  the  school,"  said  Mr. 
Walton  to  his  neighbour,  Mr.  Gal- 
way,  who  was  spending  a  portion  of 
the  evening  with  him;  ''but  it  was 
not  the  kind  of  lesson  that  my  little 
girl  asked  about."  "  What  was  it  ?" 
said  Mr.  Galway.  "  It  was  a  lesson 
in  falsehood."  "  You  don't  mean 
that  you  learned  to  lie  the  first  day 
you  went  to  school?"  "No,  but  I 
learned  that  there  was  such  a  thing 
as  falsehood  in  others."  "  That  was 
a  lesson  that  you  could  not  learn  too 
soon."  "  I  can't  say  that  I  agree 
with  you.  I  count  it  a  great  blessing 
that  I  never  saw  an  instance  of  du- 
plicity in  my  father's  family.  I  did 
not  know  there  was  such  a  thing 
among  gro"WTL-up  people  till  I  went 
to  school.  I  think  I  was  all  the 
better  for  my  ignorance."  "  What 
was  the  lesson?"  "  As  I  was  on 
my  way  to  the  school-house  I  passed 
the  teacher  and  a  lady  who  inquired 
how  her  son  was  doing.  The  teacher 
told  her  her  son  was  '  doing  well — 
very  well,  indeed.'  In  the  course  of 
the  day  the  teacher  said  to  one  of 
the  boys,  as  he  failed  to  spell  the 
word  put  to  him,  '  John  Ellis,  you 
are  the  most  indolent  and  worst- 
behaved  boy  in  school.  I  saw  your 
mother  this  morning,  and  I  had  a 
great  mind  to  tell  her  what  kind  of 
a  boy  you  are.  I  will  do  so  if  you 
don't  do  better.'  The  lesson  made  a 
very  deep  impression  on  me.  I  never 
trusted  that  teacher.  When  he  told 
me  about  the  lessons,  I  never  felt 
sure  that  I  could  trust  him.  I  know 
that  we  must  learn  to  distrust,  but  it 
is  a  lesson  which  it  is  not  desirable 
for  the  young  mind  to  learn  too  soon." 


184 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WORLD. 


How  careM  should  we  be  not  to  give 
tlie  young  lessons  of  distrust ! 

557.  Unnoticed  Differences. — 
"Think  not  that  hecause  you  look 
like  other  teachers  or  scholars,  and 
undertake  the  same  duties,  no  differ- 
ence is  seen  by  those  around  you. 
Tou  may  look  alike  and  be  altogether 
different."  Illustration  1.  "  I  came 
to  two  frozen  ponds,  so  much  alike 
in  size  and  form  that  at  the  first 
view  one  might  have  been  regarded 
as  the  counterpart  of  the  other. 
This  was,  however,  very  far  from 
being  the  case ;  for,  after  making  ahole 
in  the  ice,  I  found  one  to  be  only  a 
few  inches  deep,  while  with  my  stick 
I  could  not  reach  the  bottom  of  the 
other."  2.  ''I  picked  up  two  wal- 
nuts as  they  lay  among  the  dry 
leaves, under  the  tree  on  which  they 
had  grown  ;  both  were  large,  and  I 
thought  that  each  would  be  good ; 
but,  no !  one  was  altogether  hollow, 
while  the  other  contained  a  capital 
kernel."  3.  "  I  bought  two  apples 
at  a  fruit- stand — ruddy  and  ripe ;  I 
do  not  believe  the  man  who  sold 
them  to  me  could  have  pointed  out 
any  difference  between  them;  and 
yet,  for  all  this,  when  I  came  to  tui'n 
them  round  and  examine  them,  I 
found  one  of  them  to  be  firm  and 
sound,  and  the  other  rotten  to  the 
very  core."  "As  it  was  with  the 
ponds,  the  walnuts,  and  the  apples, 
60  it  may  be  with  you.  Some  are 
shallow,  while  others  have  depth  of 
understanding  ;  some  have  depth  of 
understanding,  while  others  are  shal- 
low; some  are  full  of  knowlege, 
while  others  are  empty;  and  some 
are  firm  and  to  be  relied  upon,  while 
others  are  unsound  at  their  hearts." 
— Moggridge. 


CLASSIFICATION    OF 
SOHOLAES. 

558.  A  good  Ideal. — In  order  to 
give  such  an  organization  of  a  Sab- 
bath-school proper  efficiency  there 
must  be  suitable  accommodations  in 
the  way  of  rooms.  Not  only  must 
there  be  a  separate  room  for  the  pri- 
mary department  (which  is  now 
universally  conceded),  but  there  must 
be  a  separate  room  for  each  of  the 
five  divisions  of  the  intermediate 
department.  This  is  indispensable. 
It  would  be  desirable  also  that  each 
class  in  the  senior  department  shoidd 
have  a  room  to  itself.  But  this  is  not 
indispensable.  They  might  all  oc- 
cupy one  room,  but  it  should  be  sepa- 
rated entirely  from  the  main  school. 
A  mere  glance  at  this  plan  will  show 
that  at  least  six  skilled  (if  pos- 
sible, professional)  teachers  would  be 
needed ;  namely,  one  for  the  primary, 
or  infant  department,  and  one  for 
each  division  of'  the  intermediate 
department.  Ordinary  teachers,  such 
as  we  have  in  all  our  Sabbath- schools, 
would  do  for  the  assistants.  But  the 
principal  teachers  must  be  of  a  supe- 
rior grade.  They  must  be  persons 
who  really  know  how  to  teach,  and 
who  have  been  accustomed  to  handle 
large  classes.  Under  such  teachers 
,  the  assistants  would  rapidly  improve 
in  the  matter  of  teaching,  and  would 
themselves  soon  become  experts. 
Perhaps  it  may  make  this  plan  clearer 
if  I  spread  it  out  in  a  little  different 
shape.  It  will  be  understood,  of 
course,  that  the  figures  here  used 
are  assumed  mcrel}^  for  convenience 
of  illustration.  In  actual  practice, 
no  school  can  ever  be  thus  rounded 
off  into  even  figures.  Some  classes 
will  have  only  four  or  five  scholars, 
while  others  will  have  twelve  or  fif- 
teen. The  even  numbers  here  given, 
or  any  others  that  might  be  assumed, 
serve  to  show  the  point  to  which  the 
organisation  is  directed. 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL    WORLD. 


185 


I.  Senior  Department,  50  scho- 
lars ;  II.  Main  School,  200  scholars; 
III.  Infant  School,  50  scholars. 
Total,  300. 

I. 

SEMOE,  DEPARTMENT. 

50  Scholars. 

Class  I.  1  teacher  and  10  scholars. 
Class  II.  1  teacher  and  10  scholars. 
Class  III.  1  teacher  and  10  scholars. 
Class  IV.  1  teacher  and  10  scholars. 
Class  V.     1  teacher  and  10  scholars. 

II. 
MAIN  SCHOOL. 
200  Scholars. 
Division  I.    1  Principal  Teacher 
and  50  scholars. 

Class  I.  1  assistant  and  10  scholars. 
Class  II.  1  assistant  and  10  scholars. 
Class  III.  1  assistant  and  10  scholars. 
Class  IV.  1  assistant  and  10  scholars. 
Class  V.     1  assistant  and  10  scholars. 

DlYlsiON  II.  1  Principal  Teacher 
and  50  scholars. 

Class  I.  1  assistant  and  10  scholars. 
Class  II.  1  assistant  and  10  scholai'S. 
Class  III.  1  assistant  and  10  scholars. 
Class  IV.  1  assistant  and  10  scholars. 
Class  V.     1  assistant  and  10  scholars. 

Division  III.  1  Principal  Teacher 
and  50  scholars. 

Class  I.  1  assistant  and  10  scholars. 
Class  II.  1  assistant  and  10  scholars. 
Class  III.  1  assistant  and  10  scholars. 
Class  IV.  1  assistant  and  10  scholars. 
Class  V.     1  assistant  and  10  scholars. 

Division  IY.  1  Principal  Teacher 
and  50  scholars. 

Class  I.  1  assistant  and  10  scholars. 
Class  II.  1  assistant  and  10  scholars. 
Class  III.  1  assistant  and  10  scholars. 
Class  IV.  1  assistant  and  10  scholars- 
Class  V.  1  assistant  and  10  scholars. 

III. 

PEIMART  DEPARTMENT. 

50  Scholars,  1  Principal  Teacher. 

Class  I.  1  assistant  and  10  scholars. 
Class  II.  1  assistant  and  10  scholars. 
Class  III.  1  assistant  and  10  scholars. 
Class  IV.  1  assistant  and  10  scholars. 
Class  V.     1  assistant  and  10  scholars. 


A  bare  inspection  of  this  pro- 
gramme will  enforce,  better  than  any 
argument  could,  certain  necessary- 
changes  in  our  Sabbath-school  ar- 
rangements. 

1 .  We  must  have  a  different  method 
of  building  from  that  which  now  pre- 
vails. There  must  be  more  rooms 
than  we  now  have.  In  such  a  school 
as  we  have  supposed  there  must  be 
at  least  six  separate  rooms,  namely, 
one  for  the  senior  department,  one 
for  the  primary  school,  and  one  for 
each  of  the  four  divisions  of  the 
main  school. 

2.  "We  must  have  in  such  a  school 
at  least  five  accomplished,  thoroughly 
qualified  teachers,  namely,  one  as 
principal  teacher  of  the  primary,  or 
infant  school,  and  one  for  each  of  the 
four  divisions  of  the  main  school. 

3.  From  the  primary,  or  infant 
school,  up  to  the  highest  division  in 
the  main  school,  there  should  be  an 
established  and  consecutive  coui'se 
of  study.  If  a  child  grows  up  in  the 
school  from  infancy,  he  should  go  up 
regularly,  class  by  class,  until  he 
has  completed  the  full  course,  when 
he  should  be  admitted  into  one  of  the 
adult  classes  forming  the  senior  de- 
partment. If  a  child  is  brought  into 
the  school  from  some  other  school,  he 
should  be  placed  in  some  one  of  the 
divisions,  according  to  his  attain- 
ments and  age,  and  advance  from 
that  point  with  the  others. 

4.  All  scholars  in  any  one  division 
should  have  the  same  text-book  and 
the  same  lesson. 

5.  The  text-book  for  each  division 
should  be  such  as  could  be  completed 
in  one  year.  This  would  make  a  four 
or  five  years'  course  for  the  main 
school. 

6.  In  each  division  of  the  main 
school,  and  also  in  the  infant  school, 
the  instruction  would  be  given  chiefly 
by  the  principal  teacher.  He  would 
give  the  comments  and  explanations. 
It  would  rest  upon  the  assistants  to 


186 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


sit  with  tlieir  classes  and  keep  tlie 
scholars  in  order  and  attentive  while 
the  principal  teacher  was  talking ;  to 
question  each  child  in  detail,  for  the 
purpose  of  seeing  whether  the  ex- 
planations of  the  principal  teacher 
had  been  understood;  to  hear  each 
child  answer  the  questions  given  to 
be  answered,  and  recite  the  verses 
and  hymns  given  to  be  committed  to 
memory ;  to  register  the  attendance ; 
to  attend  to  library  books  and  papers, 
and  to  the  collections;  to  hunt  up 
during  the  week  all  absentees ;  and 
to  report  to  the  principal  teacher  all 
cases  of  every  kind  requiring  special 
attention. 

7.  No  child  should  advance  from 
the  primary  or  infant  school  until 
(1)  it  can  read,  and  (2)  it  is  well 
grounded  in  certain  rudiments 
of  Christian  doctrine,  knowing 
thoroughly  by  memory  the  Lord's 
Prayer,  the  Ten  Commandments,  and 
the  Apostles'  Creed. 

8.  The  senior  department  should 
be  one  from  which  there  should  be 
no  graduation.  The  classes  should 
be  formed  according  to  age  and  elec- 
tive affinity.  Each  class  should 
pursue  its  own  course,  without  any 
necessary  connection  with  the  other 
classes,  and  taking  every  year  some 
new  study  sufficient  to  last  through 
the  year.  There  is  no  danger  of  their 
ever  exhausting  the  subjects  of  study 
which  the  Bible  will  furnish.  The 
senior  department  will  furnish  the 
general  reserve  corps,  from  which 
teachers  are  to  be  drawn,  either  for 
temporary  vacancies  or  for  regular 
service ;  and  to  this  corps  teachers 
should  return,  whenever  they  become 
disabled  for  active  service. 

Cannot  some  of  these  ideas  be  re- 
alized ? — Dr.  Hart. 

559.  Class  Names,  Mottoes,  and 
Emblems. — Many  schools,  either  for 
the  pleasantness  of  the  plan  or  as  a 
means  of  cultivating  a  class  spirit. 


as  well  as  to  facilitate  missionary 
collections,  give  each  class  a  name 
and  motto.  The  following  is  a  list 
of  appropriate  names  and  mottoes 
for  classes.  At  anniversary  gather- 
ings emhlems  are  sometimes  used. 
The  names  of  these  are  in  some 
cases  given  below. 

Bihle  Students — Motto :  Search  the 
Scriptures. 

Buds  of  Promise — Motto  :  Israel 
shall  blossom  and  bud,  and  fill  the 
face  of  the  world  with  fruit. 

Busy  Bees — Motto :  The  hand  of 
the  diligent  maketh  rich. 

Christian  Warriors — Motto:  Put 
on  the  whole  armour  of  God. 

Cheerful  Givers  —  Motto  :  God 
loveth  a  cheerful  giver. 

Charity  Circle  —  Motto :  Charity 
never  faileth. 

Constant  Workers — Motto  :  Our 
rest  is  in  heaven. 

Early  Seekers — Motto:  Those  that 
seek  Me  early  shall  find  Me. 

Excelsior — Motto :  Faint,  yet  pur- 
suing. 

Field  Floivers — Motto  :  Consider 
the  lilies. 

Gospel  Soldiers  —  Motto  :  Fight 
the  good  fight  of  faith. 

Golden  Rule — Motto :  Whatsoever 
ye  would  that  men  should  do  to  you, 
do  ye  even  so  to  them. 

Golden  Litiks  —  Motto  :  Faith, 
Hope,  Charity. 

Hojje  Circle — Motto  :  Hope  thou 
in  God. 

Lovers  of  the  Bihle — Motto  :  0, 
how  I  love  Thy  law. 

Little  Builders — Motto  :  By  our 
aid  shall  the  temple  rise. 

Little   Eisciples — Motto :  Receive 

the  kingdom  of  God  as  a  little  child. 

Little  Gleaners—  Motto :  And  she 

went  and  came  and  gleaned  in  the 

field  after  the  reapers. 

Lovers  of  Truth— Motto :  Te  shall 
know  the  truth,  and  the  truth  shall 
make  you  free. 

Little  Beajjers — Motto  :  Look  on 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WORLD. 


187 


tlie  fields,  they  are  wldte  ali'eady 
with,  harvest. 

3Iinute  3fen — Motto  :  Be  instant 
in  season  and  out  of  season. 

Onward  and  Upward — Motto:  Let 
us  go  on  unto  perfection. 

Pearl  Gatherers  —  Motto  :  And 
they  shall  be  Mine  in  that  day  when 
I  make  up  My  jewels. 

Treasure  Seekers — Motto :  Lay  up 
for  yourselves  treasures  in  heaven. 

Threads  of  Gold — Motto  :  Thou 
shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself. 

The  Coral  Reef— Koiio : 

'' Little  workers  are  we,  but  we  work  cheer- 
fully; 
The  rock  that  we  raise  is  all  to  the  praise 
Of  Jesus,  our  Saviour  and  King." 

Young  Pilgrims  —  Motto  :  Our 
home  is  in  heaven,  the  Celestial 
City.     Emblem :  A  pilgrim. 

The  Good  Samaritan — Motto:  He 
that  giveth  to  the  poor  lendeth  to 
the  Lord.  Emblem  :  Cruse  of  oil, 
bottle  of  wine,  and  money. 

Cross  Bearers — Motto:  "We  will 
bear  the  Cross,  hoping  to  wear  the 
erown.     Emblem :  A  cross. 

Young  Volunteers — Motto  :  Fight 
the  good  fight  of  faith.  Emblem:  A 
flag.  ^ 

Friendship — Motto  :  Ye  are  My 
friends  if  ye  do  whatsoever  I  com- 
mand you.     Emblem :  A  cross. 

Always  Something — Motto  :  We 
have  done  what  we  could.  Emblem : 
A  Bible,  Hymn  Book,  and  Dis- 
cipline. 

Star  of  Bethlehem — Motto  :  And 
lo,  the  star  which  they  saw  in  the 
East  came  and  stood  over  where  the 
young  child  was.     Emblem  :  A  star. 

Beacon  Light — Motto  :  The  people 
that  walked  in  darkness  have  seen  a 
great  light.     Emblem :  A  light. 

Alpha — Motto  :  In  the  beginning 
God  created  the  heavens  and  the 
earth.  Emblem  :  Grreek  letter 
Alpha. 

Willing  Hearts  and  Ready  Hajids 
—  Motto  :     Whatsoever    thy    hand 


findeth  to  do,  do  it  with  thy  might. 
Emblem :  A  heart. 

Moriiing  Stars — Motto :  Love  and 
labour  go  hand-in-hand.  Emblem : 
A  star. 

Spring  Blossoms — Motto:  The 
flowers  appear  on  the  earth  :  the 
time  of  the  singing  of  the  birds  is 
come.     Emblem :  Violet. 

Gosp)el  3Iessengers  —  Motto  :  Go 
teach  all  nations.    Emblem :  A  ship. 

Fidelity — Motto:  Yours,  in  Gospel 
bonds.     Emblem:  Cross  and  wreath. 

First-Fruits — Motto  :  Honour  the 
Lord  with  thy  substance  and  with 
the  fijst-fruits  of  all  thy  increase. 
Emblem:  Fruit. 

Little  Branches — Motto:  I  am  the 
vine,  ye  are  the  branches.  Emblem: 
A  plant. 

Young  Discijjles — Motto  :  I  love 
them  that  love  Me,  and  they  that 
seek  Me  early  shall  find  Me.  Em- 
blem :  Basket  of  flowers. 

Heathen'' s  Friend  —  Motto  :  We 
labour  for  souls.    Emblem:  A  Bible. 

Faithful  Class — Motto  :  Be  thou 
faithful  unto  death,  and  I  will  give 
thee  a  crown  of  life.  Emblem :  A 
crown. 

Forget  3Ie  Not  —  Motto  :  Re- 
member the  word  that  I  said  unto 
you.     Emblem :  Forget  me  not. 

Loyal  C/«ss— Motto  :  We  fight 
under  the  blood-stained  banner  of 
King Immanuel.    Emblem:  A  shield. 

Self-Denial — Motto  :  If  any  man 
will  come  after  Me  let  him  deny 
himself,  take  up  his  cross,  and 
follow  Me.  Emblem  :  Cross  and 
crown. 

Harvest  Class — Motto :  Pray  the 
Lord  of  the  harvest  that  He  would 
send  forth  labourers  into  His  vine- 
yard.    Emblem :  Fruit. 

Floivers  hy  the  Wayside — Motto : 
Heaven  plants  its  flowers,  and 
scatters  its  jewels  in  unlocked  for 
places.     Emblem:  Flowers. 

First  Brinciples — Motto  :  Search 
the  Scriptures.    Emblem :  A  Bible. 


188 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


JohnWesley  Class — Motto:  What- 
soever thy  hand  findeth  to  do,  do  it 
with  thy  might.  Emblem  :  Statue 
of  "Wesley. 

Lifehoat,  composed  of  the  officers 
of  the  school — Motto :  We  seek  to 
save  the  perishing.  Emblem  :  A 
lifeboat. — S.  S.  Scrap-hook. 

560.  Advantage  of  Classes. — 
A  moderate  number  of  scholars,  per- 
fectly classified,  and  studying  to- 
gether under  one  skilled  teacher, 
will  improve  more  rapidly  than  they 
would  if  each  individual  scholar  had 
a  teacher  wholly  to  himself,  for  there 
will  be  the  stimulus  of  competition 
and  of  the  social  impulse.  Solitary 
study,  under  a  private  tutor,  is  a 
dull  business  to  a  child.  The  lesson 
which  is  soporific  or  repulsive  as  a 
solitary  exercise  becomes  a  delight 
when  learned  in  company.  As  with 
learning,  so  with  teaching.  It  is  a 
dull,  mind-benumbing  business  to 
teach  one  child.  That  the  mind  of 
the  teacher  may  be  roused  to  its 
highest  and  best  exertions  the  sti- 
mulus of  numbers  is  needed.  In 
every  aspect  of  the  case,  therefore, 
good  classification  in  school  is  an  in- 
dispensable element  of  success.  In- 
deed, it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say 
that  a  class  of  thirty  scholars  of 
exactly  equal  attainments  would  be 
brought  forward  as  rapidly  by  a 
single  teacher  as  the  same  number 
would  be  by  thirty  teachers,  if  the 
class  was  so  ill  assorted  that  everj^ 
scholar  had  to  have  a  separate  lesson. 
The  efficiency  and  the  commercial 
value  of  the  one  teacher  in  such  a 
case  would  be  multiplied  thirty- fold. 
—Br.  Hart. 

561.  Adaptation. — Our  Sunday- 
school  accessories  are  almost  entirely 
calculated  for  the  little  people.  We 
have  little  songs,  and  banners,  and 
cake,  and  stories,  and  blackboards, 
and  pictures,  and  spend  much  trouble 
to   call  into  our  schools  and  keep 


there  the  very  class  of  pupils  who 
are,  of  all,  the  easiest  to  interest  and 
retain.  It  cannot  have  escaped  your 
notice  that  our  scholars  are  attentive 
and  faithful  till  they  begin  to  be 
grown  up,  especially  the  boys,  and 
that  there  is  a  great  gap  in  our 
ranks  between  the  ages  of  fifteen  and 
twenty.  Those  who  are  too  big  for 
processions  and  refreshments,  and  not 
old  enough  to  come  thirsting  for 
knowledge — as,  thank  Grod,  many 
young  men  do — find  little  attraction. 
This  want  is  met  in  Plymouth  school 
by  the  Young  People's  Association, 
an  independent  organisation,  with 
its  own  officers,  which  supports  the 
young  people's  prayer  meeting,  the 
young  people's  sewing  circle,  and  the 
young  people's  lecture  course,  a 
series  of  familiar  lectures  on  scientifie 
topics  of  popular  interest,  accompanied 
with  evening  entertainments  in  the 
Sunday-school  room,  enlivened  by 
readings,  recitations,  and  music. — 
Raymond. 

562.  G-radation  in  Study. — Were 
it  left  to  me  to  propose  an  organisa- 
tion for  such  a  school,  and  the  proper 
means  were  placed  at  my  disposal,  I 
would  begin  by  assorting  the  scholars 
into  three  portions.  The  first  portion, 
consisting  of  those  who  cannot  read, 
would  constitute  the  Primary  de- 
partment. They  should  be  kept  in 
that  department  until  they  could  read 
sufficiently  to  be  able  to  study  lessons 
by  themselves  foom  a  book.  The 
third  portion  of  the  school  should 
consist  of  adults  and  of  those  who 
are  already  well  advanced  in  biblical 
knowledge,  and  should  constitute  a 
Senior  department.  All  between 
these  two  portions  would  form  an 
Intermediate  department,  and  would 
constitute  the  main  school.  In  a 
school  of  three  hundred  there  might 
be,  say,  fifty  in  the  Primary  or 
Infant  class,  fifty  in  the  Senior  de- 
partment, and  two  hundred  in  the 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WOELD. 


189 


Intermediate   or   main  scliool.     The 
Primary  or  Infant  class  might  in  the 
main  all  have  the  same  lesson.    They 
should  have,    besides   one  principal 
teacher,    several   assistant    teachers, 
not  less   than  one  for  every  ten  or 
twelve,  each  assistant  being  charged 
with  a  certain  section  of  the  class, 
to    carry   out    into    detail    to    each 
scholar     the     instructions     of     the 
principal  teacher.     The  classes  con- 
stituting    the     Senior     department 
might,    under     competent  teachers, 
be  left  comparatively  independent  in 
their  selection  of  courses   of  study. 
The  classification  in  this  department 
would  be  made  mainly  with  reference 
to  age,  sex,  social  position,  personal 
friendships   and   affinities,    and    the 
like.     A   class,  organized   on  these 
grounds,    under    the    direction    and 
with  the  concurrence  of  the  superin- 
tendent, would  take  up  some  book  of 
Scripture,  or  some  other  special  study, 
sufficient  to  occupy  them  for  a  season, 
and  having  completed  it,  would  then 
take     up     some    other    subject    of 
inquiry.     But,  between  the  Primary 
department   and  the  Senior  depart- 
ment of  the  school  there  should  be 
a  regular  course  of  Scriptural  study, 
running  through  not  less  than  four 
or  five  years.     In  other' words,  the 
Intermediate  or  main  school  should 
be  divided  into  four  or  five  stages, 
and  for  each  stage  there  should  be 
a  distinct  course  of  study  sufficient 
to    occupy    the    Sabbaths    for    one 
entire    year.       For    each    of   these 
divisions    of    the  main  school,  con- 
sisting of  forty  or  fifty  scholars,  all 
having  the  same  lessons,  there  should 
be   one  principal  teacher,    aided  by 
assistant  teachers,  not  less  than  one 
for  every  ten  or  twelve  scholars.  The 
scholars    should    be    grouped    into 
sections  of  ten  or  twelve,  each'^  sec- 
tion with  an  assistant  teacher,  who 
should  carry  out  the  details  of  in- 
struction,   but    the    whole  forty   or 
fifty  should  in  other  respects  be  con- 


sidered and  treated  as  one  class. 
The  time  for  instruction  and  recita- 
tion should  be  divided  about  equally 
between  the  principal  teacher  and 
the  assistant  teachers.  Supposing 
the  time  for  instruction  to  be  one 
hour,  the  principal  teacher  would 
ordinarily  occupy  ten  minutes  in  the 
beginning  in  general  explanations, 
then  give  the  assistants  thirty 
minutes  to  go  over  the  lesson  in 
detail  with  their  several  sections, 
and  then  the  principal  teacher  would 
occupy  twenty  minutes  with  the 
whole"  class.  While  the  principal 
teacher  was  occupying  the  whole 
class,  the  assistant  teachers  should 
each  see  to  the  individual  scholars 
of  his  section  for  the  purpose  of 
securing  attention  and  quiet. — Dr. 
Hart. 

563.  Social  Influences.  —  The 
children  merely  sit  in  the  same 
room,  to  receive  mutual  instruction ; 
and  the  probability,  the  almost  moral 
certainty,  of  the  child's  eternal  in- 
terest being  promoted  by  that  in- 
struction, far,  far  outweighs  the  bare 
possibility  of  any  evil  that  might 
perchance  be  communicated.  There 
have  been  classes  in  which  the  young 
mistress  and  the  servant  were  seated, 
each  drinking  in  with  eagerness  from 
the  same  pure  fountain  of  life :  no 
harm  ensued ;  the  young  lady  learned 
not  to  disregard  the  interests  of  those 
who  ministered  to  her  wants,  and 
the  young  servant  learned  not  to  be 
less  "faithful  or  less  diligent  in  the 
discharge  of  her  duties,  from  par- 
taking of  similar  instruction  on  each 
revolving  Sabbath  day.  Such  cases, 
however,  must,  of  necessity,  be  of 
very  rare  occurrence.  The  different 
mental  training  possessed  by  the 
scholars  throughout  the  week  in- 
fluences the  superintendent  in  their 
classification  on  the  Sabbath  day; 
and,  without  purposely  classing_  them 
by  either  rank  or   age,  it  wiU  be 


190 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD* 


generally  found  that  children  of  the 
same  age,  rank,  and  attainments 
are  put  together. — Davids. 

564.  Nnmher  and  Classification. 
— The  first,  and  indeed  the  indispen- 
sable, requisite  in  any  really  efficient 
gradation  in  a  Sabbath-school  is  that 
the  school  should  be  a  large  one.  The 
larger  the  number  that  comes  under 
one  organization  the  more  perfect 
the  classification  can  be  made.  This 
is  the  secret  of  the  complete  classifi- 
cation which  is  reached  in  the  public 
schools  of  our  large  cities.  From  the 
lowest  division  in  a  Primary  School 
up  to  the  highest  division  in  the  High 
School,  there  are  more  than  twenty 
distinct,  well-defined  stages  of  ad- 
vancement, representing,  in  fact,  so 
many  successive  schools,  rising  one 
above  another  in  regular  order  and 
progression.  But  in  accomplishing 
this  result  it  should  be  remembered 
the  organisation  embraces  some  fifty 
or  sixty  thousand  children.  The 
Sabbath-school  of  a  single  church 
can  never  be  sufficiently  numerous 
to  secure  a  classification  so  complete 
as  this.  Yet  with  an  attendance  of 
three  or  four  hundred,  which  many 
of  our  city  schools  have,  a  gradation 
might  be  accomplished  of  a  very 
efficient  character. — Dr.  Hart. 

565.  Eich  and  Poor. — Being  at  a 
fashionable  watering  place,  one  Sab- 
bath morn  we  visited  the  school,  and 
noticed  a  gentleman  approaching, 
leading  by  the  hand  an  intelligent- 
looking  child,  about  five  years  of 
age.  The  superintendent,  with  whom 
we  were  conversing,  informed  us  that 
he  was  the  proprietor  of  the  largest 
hotel  in  the  place,  and  had  been  re- 
cently brought  to  a  knowledge  of  the 
truth  through  the  ministrations  of  the 
faithful  clergyman  on  whom  he  had 
been  led  to  attend.  After  the  cus- 
tomary salutations  had  passed,  the 
gentleman  said,  "  I  am  come,  Sir,  to 
get  my  boy  admitted  into  the  school." 


The  superintendent  looked  perfectly 
amazed,  and  stammered  out  some- 
thing about  the  school  being  for  the 
poor.  Never  shall  we  forget  the  firm 
and  dignified  reply :  "  Sir,  you  must 
admit  my  boj^ ;  I  can  take  no  denial. 
Put  him  wherever  you  please.  If  he 
is  within  these  walls,  I  shall  know 
he  is  safe.  I  have  neither  time  nor 
ability  to  attend  to  him  myself.  As 
a  subscriber  to  this  school,  at  least, 
I  have  a  claim  to  its  advantages  \ 
and  though  I  trust  I  feel  something 
of  the  value  of  an  immortal  soul,  I 
do  not  value  the  souls  of  the  poor 
more  than  that  of  my  own  child." — 
Davids. 

566.  A  Foolish  Prejudice. — 
^^  I  do  7iot  lihe  my  children  to  asso- 
ciate ivith  their  inferiors  ifi  rank 
and  station.''^  This  is  a  specious 
objection;  it  seems  to  carry  weight 
with  it,  and,  when  conscientiously 
urged,  demands  a  thoughtful  hear- 
ing. We  believe  it  is  only  a  plausi- 
ble error.  Children  must  associate 
with  their  inferiors  in  the  daily 
walks  of  life.  A  servant  is  an  in- 
ferior. Will  a  pious  teacher  who  is 
poor  do  a  child  more  harm  than  the 
servant  to  whose  care  it  would 
otherwise  in  all  probability  be  com- 
mitted ?  But  doubtless  this  objec- 
tion applies  rather  to  the  mingling 
together  in  class,  and  not  to  the 
teacher.  We  can  only  say  that  we 
have  never  known  any  instance  of 
harm  resulting,  but  often  much  good 
derived,  from  the  association  of  dif- 
ferent ranks.  The  children  do  not 
talk  to  one  another ;  they  have  no 
opportunity  of  learning  vdcked  words 
or  vulgar  ways;  the  discipline  of 
the  school  prevents  all  indiscrimi- 
nate intercourse. — Davids. 


THE  MISSIN&  SCHOLAE. 
On"  calling  over  the  roll  one  Sabbath 
morning  in  the  early  spring  time, 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


191 


before  the  lessons  of  the  school  began, 
I  found  one  scholar  was  missing.  A 
certain  vague  foreboding  took  pos- 
session of  my  mind  that  we  should 
never  see  her  in  her  seat  again,  for 
her  health  had  been  sinking,  and  a 
cough,  deep  and  hollow,  had  caused 
us  to  fear  for  her,  several  weeks 
before  the  morning  when  I  called  her 
name  but  got  no  response.  After  the 
services  of  the  day  I  called  on  Maggie, 
and  found  that  our  fears  were  well 
grounded,  for  she  was  now  evidently 
in  a  middle  stage  of  consumption. 
The  doctor  had  ordered  her  to  go  to 
the  country,  to  try  what  change  of 
air  would  do  ;  and  as  she  was  to 
leave  town  on  the  following  day,  I 
took  the  opportunity  to  direct  her 
mind  to  the  interests  of  her  immortal 
soul.  She  could  give  me  no  satis- 
faction about  her  state,  for  she  seemed 
not  to  realize  that  her  body  was  in 
danger  of  death,  and  her  soul  in 
danger  of  hell.  She  was,  by  her  own 
confession,  unsaved,  but  this  seemed 
to  trouble  her  very  little ;  she  had  no 
desire,  apparently,  to  seek  Christ, 
for  she  felt  no  pressing  need.  After 
a  few  words  of  earnest  counsel  and 
entreaty,  I  bade  her  farewell,  prom- 
ising to  pray  for  her,  and  urging  her 
to  pray  for  herself.  When  she  was 
gone,  I  kept  my  promise,  and  prayed 
for  her  as  I  would  pray  for  any  scho- 
lar who,  I  had  reason  to  fear,  would 
go  from  my  class  to  a  lost  eternity. 
A  few  weeks  after  our  parting  I  was 
requested  to  visit  Maggie,  who  had 
now  returned.  I  lost  no  time  in 
doing  so,  and  when  I  called  I  found 
her  in  the  last  stage  of  the  disease. 
She  told  me  that  she  had  come  home 
to  die,  but  it  did  not  matter  now,  for 
she  had  sought  and  found  pardon  and 
acceptance  in  Christ.  When  I  ex- 
pressed my  surprise  and  pleasure  at 
this  unexpected  change,  she  told  me 
that  after  leaving  town  she  had  be- 
come afraid  to  die,  and  that  a  young 
friend  in  the  country  used  to  sing 


hymns  about  Jesus,  until,  she  said — 
' '  I  wished  I  could  sing  them,  and  I 
wished  I  could  think  that  Jesus  loved 
me."  She  then,  in  a  simple  way, 
related  how  she  had  been  led  to  give 
herself  to  Jesus,  and  ended  by  saying, 
"  I  know  now  that  He  died  for  me." 
Her  health  from  this  time  fast  de- 
clined. The  poor  widowed  mother 
that  watched  by  her  bedside  knew 
well  that  she  was  soon  to  lose  her 
only  child.  She  was  very  poor,  but 
friends  provided  for  the  dying  girl. 
One  day  a  little  scholar  accompanied 
me  to  her  room  and  sang  several 
hymns.  Maggie  begged  her  to  come 
again  and  sing  more  of  them  to  her. 
She  was  very  fond  of  the  hymn 
beginning,  "  My  Jesus,  I  love  Thee ;" 
but  she  said  she  would  lilic  to  have 
all  the  hymns  in  the  book  sung.  A 
visitor  once  said  to  her,  ' '  Maggie, 
you  are  very  weak,  for  the  least 
exertion  makes  you  sweat."  ^'  Oh, 
that  is  nothing,"  she  replied ;  ''  Jesus 
sweat  drops  of  blood  for  me."  To 
Maggie  death  had  no  sting.  She 
testified  to  us  that  she  longed  to  de- 
part, and  that  death  was  welcome, 
because  it  would  bring  her  to  Jesus. 
She  afterwards  repeated  the  hymn, 
"  All  is  well."  Her  faith  in  Christ 
seemed  to  grow  stronger.  At  the 
last  we  gathered  round  her  bed,  to 
witness,  through  our  tears,  the 
struggle  of  the  spirit  to  depart  and 
be  with  Christ.  She  laid  her  wasted 
hand  in  mine  to  take  a  last  farewell 
on  earth.  ''Good-bye,  Maggie,"  I 
said,  ' '  we  shall  meet  in  a  little 
while  on  the  golden  streets."  She 
saw  that  I  looked  sadly  on  her 
emaciated  hand  as  it  lay  in  mine, 
and  summoning  her  remaining 
strength,  she  said  slowly  and  in 
broken  accents,  "That  is  for  the 
worms,"  then  laying  her  hand  on 
her  heart,  she  added,  "But  this  is 
for  Christ."  So  died  a  poor  girl,  a 
scholar  in  a  mission  school.  A  few 
friends  buried  her  to  prevent  her 


192 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WOELD. 


body  being  taken  to  the  dead  house, 
and  getting  a  pauper's  burial.  The 
grass  has  not  yet  grown  upon  her 
little  grave— her  death  speaks  to 
you.  Tour  body  is  for  the  worms. 
Tour  heart— is  it  for  Christ? — 
Family  Treasury. 


567. 


Teacher,  do  you  visit  ? 


Many  a  child  is  lost  for  ever 
from  the  Sunday-school,  when  a 
single  visit,  a  simple  exhorta- 
tion, on  the  part  of  the  teacher, 
would  have  kept  it  for  the  school, 
and  even  often  for  the  church.  A 
good  shepherd  feeds  his  sheep,  and 
takes  care  that  none  are  lost.  If  the 
teacher  perceives,  therefore,  that  one 
of  those  intrusted  to  him  relaxes  in 
zeal,  showing  an  inclination  to  with- 
draw from  regular  attendance,  and 


the  danger  finally  threatening  of  its 
remaining  away  altogether,  then  he 
should  delay  no  longer  to  seek  it  at 
home,  and  exhort  it  alone,  or  in  the 
presence  of  its  parents.  John  B^ 
Gough  was  saved  by  Joel  Stratton's 
tapping  him  on  the  shoulder,  and 
directing  a  friendly  word  of  exhortai- 
tion  to  him.  Dr.  Cuyler  said,  beau- 
tifully, that  in  the  thunder  of  ap- 
plause at  Gough' s  triumph  in  Exeter 
Hall  or  in  the  Academy  of  Music  he 
always  heard  the  echo  of  that  tap 
upon  the  shoulder,  and  those  words 
of  loving  interest.  Eeally  successful 
teachers  will  tell  you  that  some  of 
their  happiest  hours  are  spent  in  fol- 
lowing their  scholars  to  their  homes, 
and  will  attribute  the  affection  sub- 
sisting between  them  in  no  small 
degree  to  this  means. 


V.    THE    INFANT    CLASS. 


aENERAL  VIEW. 

568.  Eelation  to  rest  of  Sun- 
day-school. — The  Infant  Class  is 
the  most  important  department  of 
the  Sunday-school.  Sunday-school 
managers  often  make  this  blunder : 
they  put  their  best  talent  in 
charge  of  the  Bible-classes,  and 
grade  downward ;  having  some  pert 
Httle  Miss  who  wants  to  teach, 
and  does  not  know  enough  to  teach 
anybody  else,  in  care  of  the  in- 
fants. They  say,  "  We  can't  hold 
the  big  boys  and  girls  and  the 
young  people,  unless  we  have  first- 
class  teachers.  The  little  folks  can 
be  7nade  to  go  to  Sunday-school ; 
the  larger  ones  can't."  Now  this 
is  reading  the  formula  of  in- 
struction backward,  and  no  won- 
der there  are  so  many  failures. 
The  best  talent  should  be  brought 
to  bear  upon  the  most  susceptible 
part  of  the  school;  where  its  force 
would  tell  most ;  where  one  sentence 
would  go  farther  to  shape  the  life, 
than  ten  will  a  few  years  later. 
Infant-classes,  properly  trained, 
would  never  grow  away  from  the 
Sabbath- school.  When  they  come 
to  independent  action,  instead  of 
having  to  be  held  by  honied 
associations,  and  given  biblical 
lessons  in  sugar  coating,  they  would 
hunger  for  the  strong  meat  of 
Gospel  truth,  that  they  might  grow 
thereby ;  and  what  robust  Christians 
would  they  make !    We  must  have 


the  best  talent  for  Infant-class 
teachers ;  that  is,  that  best  adapted 
to  this  work,  no  matter  how  much 
it  may  seem  to  be  needed  else- 
where. People  make  gardens  in  the 
spring.  A  handful  of  seeds  may 
represent  so  many  plants,  if  they 
are  put  in  the  soil  at  the  proper 
time,  and  the  early  rains  and  sun- 
shine set  to  work  at  them  :  and  they 
may  represent  as  many  failures, 
in  direct  ratio  with  the  untimeli- 
ness  of  their  sowing.  Let  us  not 
wait  with  the  seed  God  sends  us 
forth  to  sow  till  the  cares  of  life 
have  trodden  the  heart  as  hard  as 
a  highway.  Let  the  strongest  and 
the  best  labourers  go  forth  while 
the  fields  lie  fresh  and  moist  in  the 
dew  of  the  spring-time ;  then  shall 
the  good  seed,  cast  into  good  ground, 
bring  forth  some  thirty,  some  sixty, 
and  some  one  hundred  fold.  Not 
only  must  Infant-classes  have  the 
best  talent,  they  must  have  the  best 
rooms.  Some  seem  to  think  any  sort 
of  a  place  will  do  for  the  little  folks : 
they  will  not  protest.  Perhaps  not 
now.  But  wait  a  few  years  and  see 
how  you  will  have  to  work  to  get 
them  to  Sabbath-school  at  all.  Do 
you  know  they  are  now  forming 
their  likes  and  dislikes  for  their 
lifetime  ?  Cliildren  are  passionately 
fond  of  brightness  and  beauty. 
They  cannot  comprehend  the  glory 
of  the  Sabbath- school  idea ;  they 
must  be  helped  to  it  by  pleasant 
surroundings,  a  cheerful  airy  room 


194 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


with  flowers,  pictures,  and  music, 
making  the  Sabbath-school  hour  the 
brightest  of  the  week.  Do  not  have 
all  your  fine  frescoes  in  your  audi- 
torium, leaving  your  Infant-class 
rooms  blank  and  bare.  Children 
live  in  a  world  of  fancy.  They  can 
turn  a  walking  stick  into  a  horse,  or 
a  roll  of  rags  into  a  live  baby,  in  a 
twinkling.  They  will  get  more 
beauty  out  of  your  frescoes,  a 
hundred  to  one,  than  adults  will, 
and  they  will  never  forget  it.  I 
remember  an  imaginative  little  girl 
of  a  half-dozen  years,  who  used  to 
lie  in  the  morning  twilight  and 
conjure  up  all  sorts  of  people,  in 
all  sorts  of  costumes  and  attitudes, 
upon  a  whitewashed  wall.  How 
she  would  have  enjoyed  frescoes  of 
Jesus  and  His  wondrous  acts  of  love, 
and  how  they  might  have  helped 
her  to  comprehend  His  truth.  And 
now  a  few  words  to  Infant-class 
teachers.  Ton  must  learn  the  why 
of  your  work  upon  your  knees,  be- 
fore God.  Tou  may  listen  to  ever 
so  fine  argumentations  upon  the  mo- 
mentous issues  pending  upon  your 
efibrts,  but  unless  God  speak  into 
your  souls  the  high  motives  that  ought 
to  thrill  every  fibre  of  your  being,  you 
will  never  be  half  awake  to  the  work. 
Tou  must  learn  the  what  of  your 
teaching  from  the  Bible,  and  the 
how  from  the  experience  of  others, 
and  your  own  common  sense.  The 
sculptor's  brain  first  holds  his  statue; 
then  an  earnest  purpose  crowds  him 
to  work  out  his  thought  in  marble ; 
then  day  by  day,  stroke  by  stroke, 
till  the  stone  is  rounded  into  almost 
breathing  beauty.  So,  if  you  would 
mould  children  into  the  image  of 
Christ,  you  must  have  first,  a 
right  ideal ;  second,  an  earnest  pur- 
pose ;  and  third,  unstinted  work. 
A  man  does  not  go  beyond  his  ideal 
in  anything.  Tou  must  think  about 
this  work.  Tou  must  plan  out  the 
very  best  thing  possible  for  you  to 


do  with  the  material  you  have.  Ask 
yourself  often,  "Am  I  doing  my 
very  best  to  bring  this  class  " — not 
into  the  most  showy  shape  for  visi- 
tors' reviews,  but — 'Hhe  nearest 
possible  to  Jesus  ? "  Never  be 
guilty  of  the  indolent  trick  of  lock- 
ing the  care  of  your  class  in  the 
drawer  of  your  desk,  with  your 
manual,  to  lie  there  till  the  next  Sab- 
bath. Give  week-day  thought  to 
it.  Bring  up  your  ideal  by  study- 
ing the  modes  and  successes  of 
others.  If  you  spend  a  Sabbath  in 
a  neighbouring  city,  better  one  hun- 
dred times  forego  a  star  sermon, 
than  an  oppotunity  of  observing  the 
workings  of  a  class  where  stars  are 
gathered  for  Jesus'  crown.  Tou 
must  have  an  earnest  purpose  to 
work  up  your  ideal.  We  are  all 
indolent.  Cares  press  us.  The 
world  coaxes,  and  crowds,  and 
drives  us,  to  follow  its  fancies, 
which  do  so  devour  time  and 
thought.  "We  can  get  stamina  to 
hold  us  to  our  work,  only  from  God 
in  prayer.  We  shall  glide  into  the 
slipshod  and  easygoing,  in  spite  of 
our  good  Sunday  resolutions,  unless 
we  go  to  Christ,  and  wait  before 
Him  for  the  endowment  of  strength. 
When  we  bring  ourselves  to  His 
terms,  we  may  be  sure  this  will  be 
forthcoming.  It  will  be  the  fault  of 
nobody  in  the  wide  universe  but  oiu' 
sluggish  selves,  if  we  lack  a  stirring 
purpose  to  work  to  our  ideal.  It  is 
the  mother's  work  to  give  the  first 
religious  lessons ;  but  some  of  your 
class  are  motherless,  and  others 
might  as  well  be,  as  far  as  moral 
instruction  goes.  It  may  safely  be 
concluded  that  none  of  them  are  be- 
yond the  need  of  earnest  effort. 
Tou  have  only  an  hour  in  one-hun- 
dred and  sixty-eight  to  give  the 
only  lessons  about  Jesus  some  of 
them  ever  have.  Think  of  it.  The 
world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil  have 
one  hundred  and  sixty-eight  chances 


STJKDAY    SCHOOL   WORLD. 


195 


to  your  one.     Surely,  strong  *' strife 
must  be  'twixt   Hell   and  you — the 
odds   against  you" — for  these   chil- 
drens  souls.     Have  you  any  force  to 
"waste  in   sucIl  an  encounter  ?     You 
must  bring  yourself  to  your  utmost 
strength  by  study.      Anything  that 
gives  you  mental  grasp,  be  it  mathe- 
matical gymnastics,  or  mere  historic 
reading,  will  be  a  help  to  you.     The 
more   familiar  you    are    with   good 
authors,  the  simpler  and  clearer  will 
be   your  way  of  saying  things,  the 
less    will     your     thought    be     lost 
in      the       rattle      of      the     word- 
vehicle    you    send    it   out    in.     Of 
all  books,  however.  The  Book  must 
have  the  preference.     Saturate  your- 
self  with  Bible   truth  till   it  "^drips 
from  your  finger's  ends.     But  even 
that    is    not    enough.      You     must 
study    child-nature;  and    this,     by 
the    way,    is    quite    another    thing 
from  man  and  woman  nature.     The 
lion-tamer   studies  all  the   ins    and 
outs  of  lion-life ;  he    learns    where 
the   courage  lies,  and  lets  that  point 
alone.      He    finds    where    the    fear 
lurks,  and  makes  his   attack  there. 
You  have   grown   away   from  your 
own  childhood's  whims  and  fancies; 
your  reason  has  put  your  imagina- 
tion in  the   stocks,    and    you  have 
nearly   forgotten  the  time  when  the 
poor  captive  was  your  queen.     Chil- 
dren  believe   far   more   devoutly  in 
fairies,  and  wishing-caps,  than  they 
do   in   continents   and   oceans,  obli- 
gations  and   duties.     Grown  people 
do    preposterously    mismeasure    the 
distance  between  themselves,  on  their 
worldly    stilts,  and   the    little   folk. 
When    you    talk  to    children,    you 
must  get  down  where  they  are  ;  talk 
in  range  with  their  ideas,  speak  their 
vernacular ;    or  you  might   as   well 
preach  to  a  Chinaman  in  Cherokee.  | 
You    must    beware    of    big    words,  j 
Grown    people    have    a    fashion    of 
using  them  because  they  sound   so  | 
incomprehensibly  erudite.     But  one  : 


of  them  may  wreck  the  most  richly 
freighted    craft    as    certainly    as   a 
Mississippi   sawyer.      The   president 
of  one  of  our  universities  talked  to 
our  Sabbath- school  scholars   a  short 
time  ago  ;    he  said  some  of  the  sub- 
limest    things    a    man    may   utter, 
holding  the  attention  of  Bible  scho- 
lars,    Infant-classes,  and   all.     His 
language     was     so     simple,    that, 
but  for  the  ear  marks  upon  his  form 
and  in  his  voice,  you  would  have 
thought    it    was    one    of    the    boys 
making  a  brave  little  speech.     Lin- 
coln said  of  himself,  that  when  he 
was  a  little  fellow,  nothing  angered 
him   more  than  to   hear  the  neigh- 
hours,  when  they   came  in  to   talk 
with  his  father  of  an  evening,  use 
language  he  could  not  understand. 
He  would  go  to  his  room,  and  walk 
the  fioor  for  hours,  repeating  their 
dark    sayings,    till    he    got    at    the 
meaning,  and  put  it  into  words  that 
he  was  sure  any  boy  of  his  age  could 
comprehend.      Your   class  may  not 
show     their     disapproval     of    your 
stilted    style    in    so     genius-Hke    a 
way,    but  you  may  take   the    hint 
when  you   see  them  pinching   each 
other,  or  trading  marbles  on  the  sly. 
I  think  it  would  be  well  for  you  to 
study   the    improved  modes   of    iu- 
struction   in  use  in  public   schools. 
If  you  have   not,    you  will  be  as- 
tonished to  find  how  many  leagues 
they   are   ahead   of    the    lumbering 
methods   that  were  used  when  you 
and    I   were   in    school.      Froebel's 
Kindergarten,  the  Pestalozzian  sys- 
tem,   pictures,   blackboards,    object- 
lessons — if  these  have  power  to  crowd 
children  through  week-day  studies, 
why  not   adapt  them   to  Bible   les- 
sons ?     I  hope  you  will  not  stop  with 
admiring  them,  but  will  put  them  iq 
practice.     Singing  is   an   important 
means   of  teaching   God's  ^  truth   to 
children.     They  love   music.     They 
may  not  understand   all  the  words 
they  siiig,  but  they  will   remember 


K  2 


196 


SITN-DAT   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


them  till  they  do  get  their  meaning. 
More  truth  can  be  sung  into  chil- 
dren's hearts  than  can  he  talked  into 
them.  And  the  little  hymns  echoed 
in  their  homes,  day  after  day,  may 
do  a  good  work  for  older  sinners. 
Rev.  Thomas  Hughes  once  found  a 
family  in  a  seven-by-nine  cellar  in 
the  Fourth  Ward  in  New  York : 
the  Catholic  wife  counting  her 
beads,  and  saying  her  prayers 
on  her  knees  before  a  picture  of 
the  Yirgin;  the  Chinese  hus- 
band offering  rice  with  his  chopsticks 
to  a  little  god,  and  their  two  chil- 
dren singing  the  song  learned  at  the 
Mission  Sunday-school — 

"  Jesus  loves  me,  this  I  know, 
For  the  Bible  tells  me  so." 

A  note  of  Heaven  straying  through 
the  Romish  darkness,  and  the  pagan 
midnight.  I  am  sure  the  blessed 
Lord  Christ  leaned  toward  the  little 
waifs,  and  listened  with  tender  in- 
terest. To  succeed  in  teaching,  you 
must  love  your  scholars.  They  may  be 
very  coarse  and  unsightly,  hateful  and 
low,  but  there  is  an  infinite  possible 
folded  up  in  each  little  life.  Jesus 
loves  them — for  His  sake  you  must. 
He  will  help  you.  It  is  not  enough 
to  care  for  your  class  in  a  general 
way,  you  must  know  them  indi- 
vidually. If  you  call  Tommy 
"Dick," — no  matter  how  graciously 
you  smile — he  sees  that  you  don't 
know  Imn,  Tommy,  his  individual 
self.  Ten  chances  to  one  he  will  say, 
"She  don't  care  anything  for  me 
after  all,"  and  the  little  scape- 
grace will  bolt  you  out  with  your 
fine  lessons.  Show  each,  that  you 
do  know  him  and  her,  by  a  personal 
recognition;  a  word  about  the  in- 
valid mother  at  home,  or  the  baby, 
or,  what  is  better,  by  a  call  when 
they  are  sick — not  unlikely,  the 
extravagant  little  fellow  will  get 
your  identity  confounded  with  that 
of  the  angels  pictured   in  the  big 


Bible.  But  after  all,  your  main  de- 
pendence for  success  must  be  upon 
prayer.  I  see  my  advice  is  according 
to  that  saying  of  Origen,  "Begin  and 
end  all  things  in  prayer."  It  is  none 
the  less  pertinent  however.  Go  to 
Him  that  made  the  little  mind,  and 
understands  its  thoughts  afar  off. 
He  wiU  give  you  access  to  its  surest 
stronghold,  that  you  may  capture  it 
for  Himself.  Your  Sunday-school 
work,  wrought  in  faith,  hope,  and 
love,  must  endure.  God  gives  you 
a  chance  to  trace  on  many  little 
hearts  their  first  moral  lessons.  The 
world  may  write  its  falsities  over 
them,  but  at  last,  like  the  sacred 
characters  on  the  palimpsest,  the 
words  of  your  tracing  will  come  to 
the  light.  The  first  generation  that 
gazed  upon  the  lighthouse  of  Pharos, 
read  the  name  of  Ptolemy,  under 
whose  reign  it  was  constructed ;  but 
the  architect  did  not  mean  thus  to 
surrender  the  immortality  of  his 
genius — he  put  his  sovereign's  name 
upon  the  wonderful  structure  only 
in  stucco.  In  a  few  years  it  crumb- 
off,  and  under  it,  cut  in  stone,  was 
the  builder's  name,  Sostratus,  of 
Cnidus,  son  of  Desiphranes.  So  you 
are  writing  your  thoughts  im- 
perisJiably  upon  the  young  hearts 
God  has  put  into  your  hands.  Said 
Apelles,  "  I  paint  for  eternity." — 
Your  Sunday-school  work  teaches 
for  eternity.  You  trace  your  senti- 
ments upon  immortal  minds,  as 
Psidias  cut  his  name  upon  the  buckle 
of  the  girdle  of  his  Minerva.  It 
could  be  effaced  only  by  breaking 
the  statue  in  pieces.  The  temple  of 
my  thought  must  be  destroyed  to 
get  from  their  niches  the  memories 
of  the  Sabbath- school  teachers  who 
taught  me  the  ' '  old,  old  story  of 
Jesus  and  His  love."  The  lessons 
you  teach,  may  lie  long  in  the 
soil,  and  yet  not  lose  their  vitality. 
As  grains  of  wheat  may  grow,  after 
lying  in  a  mummy's  hand  a  thou- 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL  WOKLD. 


197 


sand  years,  so  these  seeds  of  truth 
may  bring  forth  an  abundant  har- 
vest long  years  after  the  hand  that- 
scatters  them  has  become  dust. 
Some  mission  Sunday-school  boys 
in  New  York  heard  that  a  poor 
woman  was  dying  in  a  garret  near 
the  alley  where  they  were  playing ; 
they  knew  she  was  wicked,  and 
they  shuddered  to  think  what  must 
come  after  death.  After  a  long  con- 
sultation, they  concluded  to  make  an 
effort  to  help  her  to  Jesus.  They 
could  not  get  into  her  room,  but 
there  was  a  high  window  opening 
into  it,  to  which  they  climbed  upon 
boxes.  ''  What  shall  I  tell  her, 
Johnnie?"  asked  the  little  fellow 
who  had  climbed  up,  just  able  to 
reach  the  broken  pane.  "  Oh,  tell 
her  that  yerse  about  Jesus,  that  the 
Sunday-school  man  learnt  us."  So 
Neddie  called  to  her  through  the 
window,  "  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  thou  shalt  be  saved." 
The  djdng  woman  caught  the  words. 
She  thought  the  good  God  must 
want  to  save  her,  for  surely  He  had 
sent  an  angel  to  tell  her  that.  She 
did  believe  with  all  her  heart,  and 
went  from  the  filthy  attic  up  to  the 
"World  of  Glory.  The  little  words  of 
truth  you  utter  will  echo  from  heart 
to  heart,  as  a  saviour  of  life  unto 
life.  In  the  long  forever,  the  reward 
of  your  work  shall  be  glorious.  The 
hand  bearing  the  print  of  a  nail  shall 
place  upon  your  head  a  crown,  and 
the  "well  done"  of  the  Master  shall 
sound  through  your  soul  in  ceaseless 
harmonies. — Mrs.  Jennie  F.  Willing. 

569.  Begin  Early. — Let  the  first 
lesson  of  earth  breathe  the  spirit  of 
heaven,  and  when  the  high  gifts  of 
thought  and  speech  are  given  to 
children,  point  them  to  Him  who 
caused  the  sun  to  shine,  the  plant  to 
grow,  and  the  chirping  bird  to  be 
joyful  in  its  nest.  Teach  them  that 
they  are  loved  by  this  great  Being, 


that  they  may  love  Him  in  return. 
Mingle  the  majesty  of  His  goodness, 
with  the  elements  of  their  thought ; 
you  will  be  surprised  to  see  how 
soon  the  lisping  lip  may  learn  com- 
munion with  the  Father  of  mercies. 
— Mrs.  Sigourney. 

570.  Education  Begins  with 
Life. — It  ought  to  be  engraven  on 
the  heart  and  memory  of  all,  that 

EDUCATIOISr       BEGINS       WITH       LITE. 

Before  we  are  aware,  the  founda- 
tions of  the  character  are  laid,  and 
no  subsequent  instruction  can  re- 
move or  alter  them.  Linnaeus  was 
the  son  of  a  poor  Swedish  clergy- 
man :  his  father  had  a  little  fiower 
garden,  in  which  he  cultivated  all 
the  flowers  which  his  means  or  his 
taste  could  select;  into  this  flower 
garden  he  introduced  his  little  son 
from  his  infancy;  and  this  little 
garden  imdoubtedly  created  that 
taste  in  the  child  which  afterwards 
made  him  the  first  botanist  and 
naturalist  of  his  age,  if  not  of  his 
race.  The  reader  will  infer  also 
from  what  I  have  said,  that  I  am 
in  favour  of  having  infant- classes 
attached  to  every  Sabbath-school 
where  it  is  practicable.  I  do  not 
mean  that  they  should  be  in  the 
same  room,  but  that  each  church 
should  endeavour  to  have  such  a 
school,  and  for  the  same  great  objects 
for  which  they  have  the  Sabbath- 
school  at  all.  But  with  a  view  to 
being  definite,  I  will  briefly  sum  up 
the  reasons  for  such  schools. —  Todd. 


571. 


"Education     begins 


with  life."  This  is  a  truth  which, 
if  rightly  understood  by  Sabbath- 
school  teachers,  would  invest  the 
subject  of  infant-training  with  a 
greater  degree  of  interest  than  it 
has  hitherto  possessed.  I  am  con- 
vinced that  no  part  of  the  Sabbath- 
school  system  has  been  so  much 
neglected  as  the  infant- class ;   and 


198 


SITNDAT   SCHOOL   -WOKLD. 


probably  tbis  neglect  bas  arisen 
from  tbe  belief  tbat  very  young 
cbildren  are  not  capable  of  receiving 
religious  instruction.  In  many 
country  districts  tbe  opinion  still 
prevails  tbat  cbildren  sbould  not 
be  admitted  to  tbe  Sabbatb-scbool 
until  tbey  bave  passed  tbe  age  of 
infancy.  How  different  is  tbe 
©pinion  of  Todd,  tbe  celebrated 
American  writer,  wbo  says : — 
* '  Probably  more  is  learned  and 
deeper  impressions  are  made  upon 
tbe  mind  between  tbe  age  of  eigbteen 
montbs  and  tbree  years  tban  during 
the  same  period  of  time  in  any  sub- 
sequent part  of  life."  If  tbis  be 
true,  we  begin  too  late,  even  at  tbe 
early  age  at  wbicb  cbildren  are 
generally  introduced  to  tbe  Sabbatb- 
scbool.  Let  us  begin  early.  Trained 
in  infancy  cbildren  must  be,  and  tbe 
sooner  we  begin  tbe  fewer  evil  babits 
we  sball  bave  to  contend  with  and 
eradicate.  Before  we  are  aware,  tbe 
foundations  of  a  cbild's  character 
are  laid.  It  is  very  mucb  in  tbe 
teacher's  favour,  however,  tbat  he 
has  young  minds  to  deal  with .  Tbe 
period  of  youth  cannot  be  retained. 
The  sapling  will  not  wait  the  con- 
venience of  tbe  gardener  to  train  it, 
but  will  soon  become  a  hard  and 
knotted  tree.  If  we  could  be  satis- 
fied that  infants  learned  nothing  at 
all,  either  good  or  evil,  until  they 
were  grown  up,  then  might  we  be 
less  anxious  about  giving  them 
religious  instruction. — R.  3Iagill, 
Belfast, 

572.  Educate  the  heart  as  "well  as 
the  Head. — With  the  children  of 
the  Infant  Section,  this  is  tbe  chief 
thing  to  be  attended  to.  At  an  early 
age  children  are  especially  emotional. 
It  is  the  time  at  which  feeling  reigns. 
The  heart  first.  What  comes  first 
in  tbe  order  of  nature,  sbould  be 
first  heeded.  Train  the  heart.  What 
o  mes  after  may  be  afi"ected  by  this. 


What  is  first  in  nature  for  good  or 
evil,  should  be  first  in  grace  for  good 
alone.  ''Out  of  this  distinction 
[head  and  heart],  a  question  natu- 
rally arises  as  to  which  is  the 
most  important,  or  whether  one 
is  not  equally  so  with  tbe  other. 
The  right  culture  and  full  |  develop- 
ment of  both  appear  to  me  to  be 
essential  to  character.  Out  of  the 
head  springs  capability,  out  of  the 
heart  motive.  Tbe  former  supplies 
the  means  of  acting,  the  latter 
tbe  desire  to  act,  and  the  choice  of 
which  way  action  sball  tend.  Tbe 
one  bas  cleverness  for  its  object  of 
attainment,  tbe  other  has  goodness 
or  righteousness.  Tbe  one,  if  ne- 
glected, leaves  only  a  blank — a  state 
of  ignorance,  of  not  knowing  what 
ought  to  be  known ;  tbe  other,  if 
neglected,  leaves  the  field  of  action 
open  to  passion  and  inclination, 
and  tbe  whole  character  becomes 
a  ruin." — Mrs.  Ellis. 

573.  Definition. — What  do  we 
understand  by  the  term  Infant- 
class  ?  By  the  infant-class  in  the 
Sabbatb-scbool,  I  mean  a  class  com- 
posed of  the  youngest  cbildren  in  the 
school — say  all  below  tbe  age  of 
seven  years — collected  together  in  a 
separate  apartment,  if  possible,  and 
presided  over  by  one  teacher.  Such 
classes  bave  been  in  existence  for 
many  years,  and  bave  increased  in 
number  and  importance  until  it  is 
now  a  rare  thing  to  iind  a  school  of 
moderate  size  in  either  England  or 
America  without  its  infant-class. 
They  have  not  increased  in  this 
country  to  the  same  extent  —  in- 
deed, I  should  rather  say,  so  far  as 
I  know,  they  have  not  yet  made 
a  good  beginning.  —  li.  Magill, 
Belfast. 

574.  Possible  in  every  Sunday- 
school.  —  There  may  be  an  Infant- 


SUITOAT   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


199 


class,  or  an  Infant-school,  in   con- 
nexion   with,   every  Sabbath-school 
in  the   land.      It   ought   to  be  so ; 
and  why  is  it  not  so  ?    Is  it  not  be- 
cause we  haye  considered  these  little 
ones  too  young  ?    But  may  not  this 
impression   be    a    mere    prejudice  ? 
Some  thirty  years  ago  our  churches 
thought  that   everyone  i'must  serve 
the  devil  till  at  least  twenty  years 
old ;  and  the  consequence  was  that 
it  was  a  very  rare  sight  to  see  young 
men  and  women  under  twenty  enter- 
ing the  church  with  the  purpose  of 
living  for  God.      Few  young  people 
then  professed  to   serve  God:    was 
not  this  a  very  great  mistake  ?   And 
shall   our   churches  let   Satan   still 
have  the  very  best  part  of  life  with 
which  to  take  possession  of  the  soul  ? 
No,  they  must  not  do  it.     Let  every 
minister   and    every   officer  in  our 
churches,  and  every  superintendent, 
at  once  take  up  the  subject,  and  re- 
solve   that  there    shall  be   such  a 
class  or  classes  connected  with  every 
Sabbath-school  in  the  land.     Then 
shall  we  have  begun   at  the  right 
period  of  life  to  sew  the  seed,  and 
then   will     our    blessed    Redeemer 
gather  to  Himself  a  glorious  harvest 
for  the   garners   of   immortality. — 
Todd. 


575.  1^0  School  complete  without 
one, — The  importance  of  the  infant 
department  of  the  Sabbath-school  is 
generally  conceded.  Ko  Sabbath- 
school  is  now  considered  complete, 
which  does  not  include  an  Infant- 
class.  This  part  of  the  school  is 
important,  not  only  because  Chris- 
tians wish  in  the  earliest  stage  of 
childhood  to  pre-occupy  the  mind 
and  heart  with  religious  knowledge, 
but  also  because  the  Infant-school 
is  the  great  feeder  of  the  main 
school.  The  main  school  draws  its 
chief  supplies  of  recruits  from  this 
source. — Dr,  Hart. 


576.  Influence  on  the  family. — 
You  take  the  child  from  the  niu'sery. 
Perhaps  his  parents  have  just  enough 
of  what  looks  towards  religion,  to 
let  him  go  to  the  Infant  Sabbath- 
school.  This,  indeed,  is  a  part  of 
their  religion.  The  child  has  his 
memory  and  thoughts  filled  with 
what  is  good,  with  simple  precepts 
from  the  Bible,  or  beautiful  thoughts 
which  piety  has  expressed  in  poetry ; 
he  carries  these  home ;  he  prattles 
and  repeats  them  all  over  at  home  ; 
and  the  parents  every  day  hear  the 
prattler.  They  listen  to  his  hymns, 
he  asks  them  questions,  tells  what 
his  teacher  says  at  the  school,  and 
what  God  says  in  His  word.  Now 
it  is  not  in  the  human  heart  to 
hear  this  from  a  beloved  child  and 
remain  unaffected.  The  little 
preacher  wiU  be  heard,  and  he 
will  throw  an  arrow  too,  which, 
though  it  goes  from  a  feeble  bow, 
may  be  made  to  sink  into  the  heart 
by  the  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
Thus  every  child  becomes  a  little 
missionary,  and  preaches  the  Gospel 
in  the  nursery,  in  the  parlour,  and  to 
those  who,  perhaps,  would  neither 
hear  or  heed  it  from  any  other  person. 
—Todd. 

dn. If  Infant-schools  only 

took  the  children  out  of  the  streets 
they  would  be  very  useful.  .  _  .  • 
The  pictures  were  very  attractive  to 
infants.  He  had  a  little  child  in  the 
school  between  four  and  five  years  of 
age  who  was  much  pleased  with  the 
pictures.  He  had  parents  who  pos- 
sessed a  beautiful  Bible,  which  they 
kept  merely  to  look  at  for  its  beauty, 
without  examining  its  contents. 
This  child,  having  been  taught  by 
the  pictures,  said,  when  he  went 
home,  "  Father,  will  you  please  read 
to  me  about  Joseph  and  his  breth- 
ren?" The  father  replied,  ^' Don't 
bother  me."  The  child  added,  "  Mas- 
ter told  me  about  it,  and  said  it  was 


200 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   TTOKLD. 


to  be  foTmd  in  tlie  Bible."  Tbe 
father  put  tbe  cliild  off,  and  referred 
him  to  his  mother.  The  child  was 
persevering,  and  applied  to  the 
visitor  who  came  to  the  house,  and 
the  parents  were  at  last  induced  to 
comply  with  the  child's  desire.  He 
should  never  have  heard  of  this 
incident  had  not  the  time  arrived 
when  the  child  was  old  enough  to  be 
drafted  off  to  the  National  School, 
and  then  the  father  waited  on  him, 
and  said  he  was  sorry  I  should  send 
the  child  away;  he  was  informed 
that  his  boy  being  six,  he  was  re- 
moved to  make  room  5or  others. 
The  father  then  gave  his  reason  why 
he  wished  the  child  to  stay — ' '  It 
seems  you  have  pictures  in  your 
school,  and  I  have  a  Bible  in  my 
house  which  I  did  not  much  like 
to  look  into  till  my  child  made  me. 
Having  done  with  Joseph,  then  the 
boy  would  make  me  read  about 
Lazarus  being  raised  from  the  dead, 
and  in  fact  he  kept  one  so  well  em- 
ployed that  I  have  now  learned  to 
read  the  Bible  for  myself,  and  as 
soon  as  I  can,  I  will  associate  myself 
with  a  body  of  professing  Christians, 
and  hear  this  Book  explained  which 
I  have  too  much  despised."  Thus 
the  infant  scholars  act  as  mission- 
aries to  their  parents.  It  is  a  great 
advantage  of  infant  -  schools  that 
they  liberate  the  elder  children  of 
a  family  who  were  formerly  compelled 
to  look  after  the  younger,  but  who 
are  now  enabled  to  attend  school  and 
improve  themselves. — Mr,  Wilder- 
spin, 

578.  Children  have  special  inte- 
rest in  the  Gospel. — In  the  first 
place,  the  young  have  a  special  in- 
terest in  that  Gospel  which  it  is  the 
object  of  missions  to  propagate.  If 
the  human  race  were  divided  into 
two  classes,  say  white  men  and  red 
men,  and  a  religionhad  been  revealed 
which  contained  provisions  for  one 


class  only,  we  would  not  expect  the 
other  class  to  take  any  interest  in 
the  extension  of  such  a  religion. 
They  might  not  oppose  it.  But  it 
would  certainly  be  futile  to  expect 
of  them  active,  hearty  co-operation, 
in  propagating  it.  Some  persons 
seem  to  regard  the  young  as  in  like 
manner  virtually  excluded  from 
active  co-operation  in  the  propaga- 
tion of  the  Gospel.  We  have  not 
so  learned  Christ.  Not  only  are 
children  included  in  the  Gospel  offer, 
by  virtue  of  their  being  rational, 
accountable,  and  sinful  creatures, 
and  sharing  in  the  general  qualities 
of  the  race,  but  the  Bible  has  nu- 
merous specific  promises  and  com- 
mands made  to  them  dii'ectly.  Our 
Saviour  Himself  placed  this  point 
beyond  all  question  or  cavil  by  His 
own  memorable  words  and  example. 
Children  were  never  counted  intru- 
ders in  His  presence.  He  approved 
and  encouraged  their  attempts  to  do 
Him  honour.  The  fond  mothers  who> 
elbowed  their  way  through  the 
crowd,  and  thrust  their  little  ones 
upon  His  attention,  were  not  repelled 
as  being  forward  and  obtrusive. 
His  rebukes,  on  the  contrary,  were 
reserved  for  those  who  thought  it 
indecorous  to  occupy  the  Saviour's 
time  with  mere  children. — Dr.  HarU 

579.  Influence  on  Habit.— The 
most  valuable  part  of  education  con- 
sists in  giving  the  child  a  command 
over  his  own  powers  of  mind.  Take, 
for  example,  the  power  of  command- 
ing the  attention.  Some  have  this 
power  in  great  perfection,  and  can 
at  any  moment  task  the  mind,  others 
can  do  it  imperfectly,  and  others  to 
a  very  limited  extent.  You  will 
frequently  find  a  conscientious  man 
who  mourns  over  his  condition.  He 
tells  you  that  in  worship,  and  even 
in  prayer,  his  attention  mil  wander ; 
he  joins  in  the  prayer  which  is 
offered,   foUows    a   little  way,   and 


SUNDAY  SCHOOI.  WOELD. 


201 


then,  before  he  is  aware,  off"  flies 
the  mind,  and  he  is  thinking  about 
something  else.  Again  he  brings  it 
back,  fixes  his  attention,  and  resolves 
that  his  mind  shall  wander  no  more  ; 
the  resolution  is  scarcely  made,  be- 
fore he  is  gone  again.  It  does  not 
alter  the  case,  whether  he  is  in 
the  house  of  Grod,  at  the  family 
altar,  or  in  the  closet.  He  wonders 
why  it  is  so,  and  mourns  over  the 
state  of  heart  which  allows  it.  Now 
all  this  wandering  of  the  mind  could 
be  controlled,  had  the  man  learned 
how  to  do  it  in  childhood.  How  many 
hours  of  sorrow,  how  much  loss  of 
enjoyment,  comfort,  and  improve- 
ment, would  have  been  prevented, 
had  he  only  learned  how  to  command 
his  attention  in  early  life! — Todd. 

580. Children  at  a  very  early 

age  are  capable  of  receiving  instruc- 
tion in  the  truths  of  Holy  Scripture, 
and  can  be  pleasingly  trained  to 
habits  of  cheerful  obedience.  By 
using  suitable  educational  methods, 
mere  infants  may  be  received  into 
Sunday-schools,  and  be  there  pro- 
fitably interested  and  prepared  for 
receiving  a  knowledge  of  the  "Word 
of  Grod,  and  also  be  taught  and  en- 
couraged to  do  His  will.  If  the 
infants  in  a  school  be  very  numer- 
ous, they  had  better  assemble  in 
their  own  class-room,  where  the 
teacher  should  commence  with  sing- 
ing and  prayer  at  the  appointed 
time ;  otherwise  they  should  meet 
in  the  general  schoolroom  and  unite 
with  the  other  classes  in  the  opening 
devotional  exercises,  both  morning 
and  afternoon,  after  which  they  can 
be  taught  in  their  own  class-room. 
One  teacher  should  take  charge  of 
this  class,  with  such  assistance  as 
may  be  required  for  preserving  order. 
— Sunday-school  Handhooh. 

581.  Influence  on  Education. — 
Yery  many  parents  complain  that 
their  circumstances  prevent  their  con- 


tinuing their  children  at  school  so 
long  as  they  could  wish,  but  they  seem 
to  forget  that  they  may  gain  all  that 
they  want,  and  even  more,  by  begin- 
ning their  education  two  years  earlier. 
I  have  often  seen  children  taken  from 
school  at  sixteen,  the  parents  lament- 
ing that  their  circumstances  would 
not  allow  them  to  continue  longer 
at  study,  while  these  parents  seem 
to  forget  that  had  they  begun  sufiB.- 
ciently  early,  their  children  might 
have  had  what  was  equivalent  to 
two  more  years  of  education,  just 
as  I  have  seen  a  farmer,  whose  lot 
faced  the  street,  exert  himself  and 
violate  his  conscience  by  removing 
his  fence,  and  crowding  up  towards 
the  road.  Perhaps  he  would  gain 
half  a  rod  of  land,  the  whole  length 
of  his  lot,  while  at  the  backside  of 
the  lot  there  would  be  a  rod  or  two 
overrun  with  brush  and  briars,  which 
if  cultivated  would  be  equally  valu- 
able with  that  in  front.  How  many 
are  solicitous  to  cultivate  the  front 
of  the  lot,  and  leave  the  back  to  the 
dominion  of  briars  and  thorns.  But 
the  plan  of  having  Infant-classes  at- 
tached to  the  Sabbath-school,  brings 
the  child  under  moral  and  intel- 
lectual culture  at  the  right  time,  and 
if  the  instruction  be  judiciously 
managed,  it  will  place  the  child  in 
advance  of  children  who  do  not  have 
it.  There  can  be  no  question  of 
this,  j^ot  that  the  child  can  gain 
as  much  knowledge  which  will  abide, 
between  two  and  four  years  of  age, 
as  between  sixteen  and  eighteen; 
but  if  his  education  begins  at  two, 
he  will  at  four  years  have  that  disci- 
pline of  mind  by  which,  at  the  end 
of  ten  years  more,  he  will  be  as  well 
educated  as  if  he  began  two  years 
older,  and  continued  his  education 
the  same  length  of  time.  It  is  the 
early  discipline  of  mind,  and  the 
early  impressions,  which  are  so  im- 
portant in  the  education  of  an  im- 
mortal being. — Todd, 


202 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


582.  Encoui'agements,  —  Ever 
remember  tliat  the  most  eminent 
Christians  are  converted  in  early 
life.  '^  Joseph,  Samuel,  and  David 
in  early  life  received  deep  religions 
impressions.  We  have  seen  men 
live  and  die,  such  as  Payson  and 
Evarts,  and  many  others,  whose 
sun  went  down  in  glory,  and  whose 
bright  spirits  could  almost  be  traced 
as  they  went  up  to  the  rewards  of 
heaven.  But  such  men  were  in- 
structed in  childhood ;  their  earliest, 
deepest  impressions  were  made  when 
they  were  children :  and  will  not 
their  eternal  condition  be  altered  in 
consequence,  their  songs  be  louder 
and  sweeter,  their  robes  purer,  and 
their  crowns  brighter  ?  Those  who 
are  early  and  faithfully  instructed 
will  shine  brighter  in  Heaven  be- 
cause they  will  have  fewer  sins  to 
be  forgiven,  they  will  have  made  the 
service  of  God  the  business  of  life ; 
they  will  have  turned  many  to  God, 
who  shall  go  with  them  to  the  hill 
of  Zion  above."  Accounts  of  early 
conversions  are  so  numerous  as  to  be 
within  every  person's  reach ;  for  it 
is  no  new  thing  to  see,  "  out  of  the 
mouth  of  babes  and  sucklings  God 
perfecting  praise,"  and  we  would 
therefore  animate  the  faithful  teacher 
of  the  Tnfant-class,  for  "ye  shall 
reap,  if  ye  faint  not." — Davids. 


OEaANIZATIOI^. 

General  Plan.— There 


583.  - 

is  no  department  of  the  Sabbath- 
school  work  of  greater  importance 
and  interest  than  this.  We  have 
known  marked  cases  of  hopeful  con- 
version of  children  from  four  to 
seven  years  of  age  to  result  from  the 
first  hour  of  Bible  instruction  in  the 
youngest  Infant-classes.  Often  the 
characters  and  habits  of  scholars,  as 


such,  are  formed  at  the  very  first  in- 
terview with  their  teacher,  who  thus 
meets  them  at  the  very  entering  in 
of  "the  gates  of  life."  It  is  well- 
known  that  some  of  our  most  dis- 
tinguished divines,  as  well  as  active 
Christian  ladies,  date  their  conver- 
sion back  to  the  early  age  of  four, 
five,  or  six  years.  Therefore  take 
measures  in  every  Sabbath- school  to 
organise  and  sustain  a  first-class 
Infant-school  department.  1.  Get  a 
light,  warm,  airy  room.  A  lean-to 
added  to  j'our  chapel  for  the  purpose, 
or  the  use  of  the  next-door  neigh- 
bour's dining-room  for  an  hour  a 
week  will  answer.  Give  the  children 
a  room  by  themselves,  if  possible, 
to  rise  and  sing,  talk,  recite,  and 
pray.  Furnish  the  room  with  a 
good  black-board  and  crayons,  and 
such  Scripture  prints  and  cards  and 
maps  as  you  can  obtain  for  the  walls 
and  for  use.  Provide  for  them  small, 
comfortable  seats.  2.  Select  and  call 
to  the  charge  of  this  class  the  most 
pious,  bright,  cheerful,  patient,  lov- 
ing, gentle,  winning  teacher  for 
children  there  is  to  be  found  in  the 
whole  church,  with  a  like  assistant. 
Generally  the  teacher  will  be  a  lady, 
although  some  men  greatly  excel  as 
infant-class  teachers,  so  that  the 
complaining  remark  of  the  little  girl 
to  her  mother,  that  she  "  hadn't  any 
teacher  to-day — it  was  only  a  man" 
was  quite  too  severe  to  be  just.  The 
little  ones  are  greatly  blessed  in  their 
love  for  their  teachers,  for  they  want 
a  large  share  of  demonstrative,  life- 
like sympathy,  expressed  by  a  soft, 
loving  voice  and  a  gentle  manner — 
hands  that  will  speak  in  all  their 
gestures,  and  a  patience  that  en- 
dureth  and  a  heart  that  loves  to 
teach  them  for  Christ's  sake.  If  the 
teacher  feels  the  need  of  learning 
how  to  do  this  good  work,  let  him 
visit  good  week-day  infant-schools, 
and  gather  up  suggestions  and 
lessons,  as  well   as  confidence   and 


STJIfDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


203 


inspiration,  for  tlie  great  work.  3. 
Yisit  and  gather  in  all  the  chiLdren 
from  the  ages  of  three  or  four  to 
seven  years,  whose  parents  are  will- 
ing to  send  them,  and  at  once  teach 
them  habits  of  punctuality,  order, 
regularity,  and  pleasant  worship. 
"When  they  become  well  drilled  and 
instructed,  so  that  they  can  clearly 
read  the  Bible,  then  transfer  them 
to  older  classes,  unless  there  are 
good  reasons  to  the  contrary.  Al- 
though they  are  little,  they  are  very 
precious,  and  amply  worth  all  the 
painstaking  effort  you  can  make  for 
them.  4.  Let  the  teacher  of  such  a 
class  ponder  and  consider  the  cha- 
racteristics of  his  precious  charge : — 
1.  Activity. — Says  Mr.  Hassell,  "A 
heathfuL  child  abhors  quietude,"  and 
rightly  so,  as  much  as  nature  does  a 
vacuum.  Every  mother  knows  that 
her  little  ones,  if  in  health,  "  cannot 
bear  to  be  stni  for  a  minute."  2. 
Curiosity.  —  Archbishop  Whately 
says:  "Curiosity  is  the  parent  of 
attention."  3.  hiquisitiveness.  — 
Happy  is  that  child  who  is  blest 
with  a  mother  or  teacher  who  will 
*'  bide  patiently  all  the  endless  ques- 
tionings of  the  little  one,  and  will 
not  rudely  crush  the  rising  spirit  of 
free  inquiry  with  an  impatient  nod 
or  a  frown."  Eather  see  in  their 
many  questions  but  the  untutored 
pleadings  of  the  little  ones  for  care 
and  cultivation.  Oh,  how  much 
they  want  and  deserve  to  have  their 
inquisitiveness  satisfied  by  a  kind, 
considerate  answer  to  all  their  ques- 
tions !  4.  Fear. — Oh,  how  much 
children  suffer  from  this  cause ! 
Their  natural  timidity  should  be 
respected,  and  not  cruelly  wrought 
upon.  5;  Then,  too,  children  have 
wonder,  and  like  to  talk  and  hear  of 
"  wonderful  things."  6.  They  have 
also  a  proper  love  of  approbation, 
and  they  should  be  cheered  and  en- 
couraged when  they  try  to  do  well. 
— Pardee. 


584.  Eelation  to  rest  of  School. 
— In  most  Sunday-schools  classes  are 
of  three  kinds :  infant,  juvenile,  and 
adult.  There  is  a  peculiarity  in  the 
mode  of  dealing  with  each.  With 
the  first  there  is  more  of  th.epicto7nalj 
the  illustrative,  the  musical,  and 
the  excitable.  For  this  there  should 
be  a  separate  room,  good  apparatus, 
and  a  happy  teacher.  It  requires 
special  qualifications  to  teach  infants 
successfully.  'Eo  novice  should  be 
sent  to  them. — Dr.  Steel.'^ 

585.  Separate  Eoom  needfal. — 
We  are  evidently  dissatisfied  with 
the  present  state  of  things,  and  well 
have  we  reason  to  be  so;  the  only 
remedy,  and  that  an  easy,  certain, 
and  speedy  one,  consists  in  having 
a  separate  apartment  for  the  infants. 
If  only  two  rooms  are  procurable,  we 
would  place  the  "infants"  and  the 
"  ignorant "  in  one,  the  "  instructed" 
and  the  "adults"  in  the  other.  If 
three  only  were  at  our  command,  we 
would  separate  the  infants  from  the 
letter-box,  still  uniting  the  senior 
and  Scripture  classes  in  one  room. 
A  country  branch  school  may  be 
very  comfortably  accommodated  by 
hiring  a  cottage  with  three  rooms  : 
in  the  one  down- stairs  teach  the  Scrip- 
ture classes;  while  the  two  up-stairs 
rooms  wiU  supply  the  wants  of  the 
infants  and  the  letter-box. — Davids. 

586.  A  Useful  Hint.— Many  of 
the  Sunday-schools  in  England  and 
Scotland,  by  a  simple  wood  or  wire 
frame-work,  on  which  a  red  curtain 
is  placed,  manage  to  give  every  class 
a  sort  of  separate  little  room.  At 
the  tap  of  the  bell  the  curtains  can 
be  instantly  drawn,  and  all  the  classes 
are  together  again  as  one. — House. 

587.  General  Arrangement. — 
The  Infant -class  ought  not  to  be  put 
anywhere  and  everywhere.  It  should 
have  a  separate  room,  not  too  small, 
not  Ul-lighted,  not  poorly  ventilated, 


204 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


not  cheerless.  Too  often  the  little 
ones  have  to  climb  dimly-lighted  and 
winding  stairs,  or  go  down  other  stairs, 
only  to  stumble  into  a  place  which 
has  little  or  nothing  in  it  that  is  in- 
viting. Children,  especially  little 
children,  love  the  bright  aild  the 
beautiful  ;  they  wish  to  look  into 
each  other's  eyes  and  into  the  eyes 
of  their  teacher ;  and  the  more 
abundant  the  light  and  cheery  their 
room,  the  more  they  will  be  at  ease, 
and  the  more  readily  instruction  can 
be  imparted  and  order  maintained. 
Tt  is  about  as  hard  to  inculcate  ideas 
of  purity  in  a  low,  dark  room,  as  to 
do  up  laces  in  Mississippi  river  water : 
the  more  they  are  soaked,  the  darker 
they  become.  We  know  of  two  or 
three  infant-rooms  that  have  each  an 
ever-playing  fountain  in  the  centre, 
around  which  plants  and  flowers 
grow,  and  whose  walls  are  adorned 
with  finely  -  executed  pictures  of 
Scripture  scenes.  The  fountain  may 
not  be  a  desideratum,  but  it  is  very 
desirable  that  the  room  should  be 
made  as  attractive  as  the  main 
Sunday- schoolroom,  or  as  the  audi- 
ence-room of  the  church.  Tn  some 
schools  a  separate  room  is,  for  the 
present,  unattainable.  In  such  case, 
place  the  children  as  nearly  alone  as 
may  be.  Draw  a  green,  or  other 
curtain,  across  a  corner  of  the  school- 
room, or  take  the  children  into  the 
gallery,  or  into  some  room  of  a 
dwellmg  adjoining  ;  or,  in  the 
summer  time,  group  them  under  the 
shadow  of  a  wide-spread  tree.  There 
is  a  great  charm  to  children  in  having 
their  own  place,  or  their  oivn  rooni. 

588.  Seats. — Arrange  them  in 
semicircles,  gradually  rising  by  steps 
one  above  another ;  or,  where  the 
semicircle  is  impracticable,  divide  by 
aisles  in  the  centre  and  at  the  sides, 
still  having  the  seats  rise  one  above 
the  other.  The  height  of  the  seat 
may  be  eight  or  ten  inches.     Some 


teachers  prefer  to  have  the  scholars 
sit  promiscuously — that  is,  boys  and  • 
girls  together — alleging,  as  a  reason, 
that  better  order  is  thus  obtained. 
Experience,  however,  does  not  testify 
strongly  in  favour  of  such  a  plan. 
On  the  other  hand,  where  the  boys 
have  a  side  or  section  of  their  own, 
and  the  girls  theirs,  you  can  often 
call  on  the  one  for  responses  or 
singing,  while  the  others  are  silent, 
and  rice  versa. 

589.  Age. — Your  scholars  ought 
to  be  as  near  an  age  as  possible.  In  some 
schools  there  are  two  or  more  depart- 
ments— one  for  the  children  between 
three  and  five,  the  other  for  those 
between  five  and  eight.  If  you  have 
those  who  are  over  eight,  ask  the 
superintendent  to  form  them  into  a 
class  by  themselves,  take  them  out 
of  the  room,  and  appoint  a  teacher 
over  them.  The  presence  of  a  few 
older  heads  in  the  infant-room  pre- 
vents the  development  of  the  younger 
and  less  informed,  and  as  long  as 
they  are  in  the  room  they  will  be 
disposed  to  do  all  the  answering. 
*'  I  was  a  long  time  in  ascertaining 
what  the  trouble  with  my  class  was," 
said  a  teacher  once.  "  Disorder  and 
listlessness  on  the  part  of  the  majo- 
rity prevailed  every  Sabbath.  At  last 
I  had  six  of  my  brightest  scholars 
taken  into  an  adjoining  room  and 
formed  into  an  independent  class. 
The  fifty  that  remained  with  me 
being  of  nearly  equal  capacity,  now 
had  to  depend  on  their  own  resources, 
and,  in  consequence,  attention  and 
development  followed  almost  imme- 
diately." 

590.  Blackboard,  —  Even  with 
children  that  are  unable  to  read  or  to 
distinguish  letters,  the  blackboard  is 
of  service.  No  matter  how  rude  the 
drawing,  the  children  will  catch  as 
many  ideas  from  your  chalk  as  from 
youi-  tongue.  If  your  lesson  is  the 
barren  fig-tree,  draw  a  tree,  though 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


205 


it  be  ever  so  imperfect.  Or  if  you 
talk  of  a  strait  gate  and  the  narrow 
way,  or  of  a  wide  gate  and  the  broad 
way,  you  can  readily  enough  indicate 
either  or  both  by  a  few  strokes  of 
your  crayon.  Here  is  a  narrow  or 
strait  gate,  and  a  narrow  way  as- 
cending, and  there  is  a  broad  way 
running  down  to  destruction.  With 
children  that  can  read  and  spell  it 
is  of  still  greater  utility.  Suppose 
your  lesson  to  be  the  first  half-dozen 
yerses  of  the  fifteenth  chapter  of  Luke ; 
read  them  over  distinctly  and  slowly, 
requiring  the  class  to  follow  in  con- 
cert ;  then  return  to  one  or  more 
V3rses  or  clauses,  and  read  yourself ; 
take  the  first  verse :  "  Then  drew 
near  unto  Him  all  the  publicans  and 
signers  for  to  hear  Him."  "  Whom 
did  these  people  come  to  hear  ? " 
Jesus.  "  Yes ;  we  will  write  Jesus 
on  the  blackboard.  Will  some  one 
or  all  spell  it  ?"  J-e-s-u-s — Jesus. 
*'  That  is  right.  Who  were  these 
people  ?  What  were  they  called  ?  " 
Fiihlicans.  "  We  will  write  Pub- 
licans. What  else?"  Sinners.  "We 
will  write  Sinners.  Now  we  have 
Jesus,  Publicans,  Sinners.  Tell  me 
something  about  Jesus,  something 
about  the  Publicans  and  Sinners." 
Read  and  treat  any  other  verse  in 
the  same  way.  The  individual  method 
of  teaching — that  is,  the  hearing  of 
each  scholar  recite  his  verse  or  part 
of  the  lesson  alone — has  had  wide 
and  thorough  trial,  and  has  been  as 
widely  and  completely  abandoned : 
it  is  not  suited  to  even  a  small  class, 
except  as  occasionally  lending  variety 
to  the  exercises. — House. 

591.  Separate  Eoom. — To  carry 
it  out,  however,  the  class  must  he  in 
a  separate  apartment.  About  thu'ty 
is  the  most  convenient  number  to  in- 
struct— far  preferable  than  a  smaller 
number;  but  fifty  or  sixty  may  be 
taught  in  a  convenient  room  with  a 
suitable  gaUery.     Its  teacher  should 


be  possessed  of  physical  capabilities, 
as  he  will  have  to  stand  the  entire 
time  of  school :  his  eyes  must  be  in- 
tently fixed  on  the  class. — Davids. 

592.  Size  of  Eoom. — The  most 
common  mistake  in  constructing 
infant- schoolrooms  is  making  them 
too  small  and  with  too  low  ceilings. 
Because  the  bodies  of  these  little  ones 
are  diminutive,  and  a  great  many  of 
them  can  be  seated  in  a  room  of 
moderate  dimensions,  it  is  therefore 
assumed  that  they  do  not  need  any 
more  space.  Architects  forget  that 
children  have  lungs,  and  that  the 
lungs  of  a  hundred  children  will 
vitiate  the  air  of  a  room  almost  as 
fast  as  the  lungs  of  a  hundred  adults 
—certainly  faster  than  the  lungs  of 
fifty  adults  ;  —yet  one  hundred  little 
chUdi-en  will,  without  the  slightest 
compunction,  be  thrust  into  a  room, 
and  kept  there  for  one  or  two  hours, 
where  twenty  grown  persons  would 
never  think  of  staying.  The  infant- 
schoolroom  ought  to  have  as  high  a 
ceiling  as  any  other  part  of  the  school. 
In  addition  to  this,  the  mode  of  seat- 
ing the  children  by  a  raised  gaUery 
places  them  so  compactly,  and  accom- 
modates so  many  in  so  small  a  space, 
that  at  least  four  times  as  much  un- 
occupied space  should  be  left  in  other 
parts  of  the  room,  to  prevent  the  evil 
efiects  of  over-crowding.  Special  care 
should  be  taken  also  that  there  be 
some  outlet  for  the  foul  air  from  the 
upper  part  of  these  raised  galleries. 
If  the  church  architect  could  be  com- 
pelled to  sit  for  the  last  half  hour  of 
the  school  session  upon  the  upper  tier 
of  one  of  these  raised  galleries,  and 
receive  the  exhalations  from  a  hun- 
dred pair  of  lungs,  each  having 
breathed  over  for  the  hundredth  tinie 
substantially  the  same  volume  of  fetid 
air,  he  would  probably  get  some  new 
ideas  in  regard  to  the  practical  wants 
for  which  his  professional  sldll  was 
invoked.— --Dr.  Hart. 


206 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


593.  A  G-allery  indispensable. — 
A  raised  platform,  or  gallery,  for 
seating  the  children,  is  indispensable 
to  a  good  Infant-scbool.  The  children 
must  be  aU.  seated  so  that  every  child 
can  see  the  teacher,  and  the  teacher 
see  every  child.  They  ought  also  to 
sit  rather  compactly,  especially  if  the 
class  be  large.  There  should  be  like- 
wise partitions  between  the  seats,  so 
that  each  child  will  occupy  just  so 
much  space.  The  object  of  this  is, 
partly  to  prevent  them  from  crowding 
each  other,  but  mainly  to  give  to  the 
class,  when  seated,  that  orderly  and 
symmetrical  appearance  in  which  the 
little  ones  themselves  so  much  delight. 
To  promote  this  end  still  farther,  the 
teacher  should  never  allow  them  to 
sit  scattered  aboul  the  room  in  a 
straggling  manner.  The  vacant  seats 
should  be  all  filled.  If  there  are  sixty 
seats  and  only  forty  children  present, 
let  these  forty  be  seated  compactly 
and  symmetrically,  with  no  gaps 
between.  Care  in  this  matter  not 
only  helps  the  teacher  in  keeping 
them  in  concert  in  their  movements 
of  every  kind,  but  it  has  a  wonderful 
effect  upon  the  children  themselves. 
Nothing  pleases  children  more  than 
an  appearance  of  snugness,  and  cosi- 
ness, and  order. — Dr.  Hart, 

594.  Form  of  G-allery. — A  gal- 
lery with  five  seats,  each  rising  nine 
inches  above  the  others,  and  each  seat 
being  about  twelve  feet  long,  will 
accommodate  sixty  infants.  Such  a 
gallery,  by  allowing  eighteen  inches 
for  the  width  of  the  footboard  and 
seat  together,  of  each  of  the  first  four 
lines,  and  twelve  inches  for  the  upper- 
most seat,  would  occupy  a  space  on 
the  floor  of  twelve  feet  long  by  seven 
broad,  or  eighty-four  square  feet ; 
and  the  highest  seat  would  be  raised 
three  feet  nine  inches  from  the  floor. 
The  most  convenient  gallery  is  that 
provided  with  footboards,  two  or  three 
inches  lower  than  the  seats  imme- 


diately before  them,  with  a  back  to 
each  seat  nine  inches  high,  inclined 
backwards  about  one  inch.  By  these 
contrivances  the  feet  may  have  liberty, 
without  incommoding  those  sitting 
before ;  the  dust  from  the  shoes  easily 
escapes,  without  soiling  the  clothes 
of  the  scholars ;  and  the  tender  spine 
of  the  back  receives  that  support 
which  the  weakness  of  infancy  re- 
quires.— Davids. 


THE  TEAOHEE. 

595.  Selection  of  Teacher. — 
Two  difficulties  present  themselves 
in  forming  an  Infant- class — one  is 
the  want  of  a  ^:)ro;:>er  place,  and  the 
other  the  want  of  a  proper  teacher. 
In  selecting  the  place,  I  would 
strongly  recommend  that  the  Infant- 
class  should  be  held  in  a  separate 
apartment,  even  were  it  not  the  most 
suitable  for  the  purpose.  It  is  im- 
possible for  the  teacher  in  the  corner 
of  a  crowded  schoolroom  to  have  that 
liberty  of  speech  and  freedom  of 
gesture  which  are  so  necessary  to 
secure  the  attention  of  infants.  A 
greater  difficulty  is  more  frequently 
experienced  in  procuring  a  suitable 
teacher.  It  may  be  that  a  person 
quite  competent  for  the  work  is  not 
available  just  at  the  moment  he  is 
required;  yet  if  one  can  be  found 
who  has  the  love  of  God  in  his  heart, 
and  is  anxious  to  work  for  the  sal- 
vation of  little  children,  he  can,  with 
a  little  attention,  prepare  himself  for 
being  a  teacher  of  babes. — R.  3Iagill, 
Belfast. 

596.  He  needs  Special  Talent. — 
The  great  want  of  the  Infant-school 
is  suitable  teachers.  No  department 
of  the  whole  Sabbath-school  work — 
not  even  that  of  the  superintendent — 
requires  such  peculiar  talent.  Other 
positions  in  the  Sabbath- school  may 


STJNDAY   SCHOOL  WOELD. 


207 


require  greater  talent,  or  more  varied 
knowledge,  but  none  requires  gifts 
so  peculiar.  Tliere  is  a  special  style 
of  heart,  mind,  and  manner  needed 
for  tlie  one  wlio  would  teach  an 
Infant- class.  No  other  gifts  can  be 
taken  as  a  substitute  for  these.  It 
must  be  these  or  nothing. — Dr.  Hart. 

597.  Any  one  will  do ! — How 
often  have  we  known  a  superin- 
tendent to  assign  to  the  youngest 
and  most  inexperienced  person  the 
lowest  class  in  the  school,  there  to 
commence  the  work  of  a  Sabbath- 
school  teacher !  ' '  Any  one  will  do 
for  the  little  ones ! "  Never  was  there 
a  more  profound  mistake.  The  testi- 
mony of  the  best  authorities  on  the 
subject  is  strongly  against  the  em- 
ployment of  inexperienced  young 
persons  as  teachers  of  Infant-classes. 
Fitch  says :  ' '  Far  more  skill  and 
teaching  power  are  needed  by  the 
teacher  of  an  Infant-class  than  by 
one  who  has  older  children  to  deal 
with."  The  Infant-class  requires  one 
of  the  best  teachers  in  the  school — 
quite  as  intelligent  and  able  as  that 
of  the  highest  class,  only  different  in 
cast  of  mind. — R.  Magill,  Belfast. 

598.  Often  too  young. — Scarcely 
any  department  of  Sunday-school 
labour  is  confessedly  more  difficult, 
more  laborious,  or  more  trying  to  the 
patience  and  tact  of  the  teacher,  than 
the  superintendence  of  the  Infant- 
class.  Too  frequently  this  work  is 
relegated  to  very  young  and  inex- 
perienced teachers.  It  seems  to  be 
generally  supposed  that  almost  any 
one  can  teach  children  of  tender 
years ;  hence  it  often  happens  that 
a  senior  scholar  is  appointed  to  this 
duty  as  his  initial  step  in  the  work 
of  Sunday-school  teaching.  Whether 
he  is  "apt  to  teach" — especially 
"  apt  to  teach"  the  "  lajnbs"  of  the 
flock — and  has  the  needful  moral 
and  other  qualifications,  appear  to 


be  often  less  considered  than  the  im- 
portant matter  of  finding  him  some- 
thing to  do  as  a  step  towards  future 
promotion.     The  habit  of  so  dealing 
with  this  appointment  tends  to  lessen 
the  esteem   in  which  it   should  be 
held,  and  makes  those  who  are  most 
eligible  unwilling  to  take  an  office 
that  is  not  duly  honoured.    It  should 
be  borne  in  mind  that  not  so  much 
is  the  teacher  himself  preparing  for 
higher  classes,  as  that  the  little  ones 
are  being  prepared  to  sit  presently 
with  more  advanced   scholars.     In 
the  Infant-class  the   sympathies  of 
the  young  for  Bible  truth  are  to  be 
first  awakened  and  exercised,  and, 
however  elementary,  at  least  a  solid 
foundation  for  futui-e  Scriptural  in- 
struction is  here  to  be  laid.     It  is 
therefore  needful  that  not  only  the 
teacher  have  a  very  deep  sympathy 
with  those  truths,  but  that  he  should 
have  that  clear  understanding  of  them 
which  their  simplification  requires. 
Only  those  who  understand  clearly 
can  talk  clearly  and  at  the  same  time 
simply.     To  place  a  teacher  who  is 
unconverted  over    an    Infant-class, 
where  the  first  Bible  knowledge  is 
to  be  obtained,  and  the  first  religious 
impressions  are  to  be  made,  is,  we 
think,  a  very  great  mistake.  Better, 
almost,  that  he  should  be  placed  over 
a  vestry  class,  where  the   superior 
knowledge  of  the  class  might  save 
them  from  being  seriously  damaged, 
and  where  the   religious   feeling  of 
some   of    the   scholars  might  react 
upon  his   own   state   of  mind.     At 
any  rate,  he  should  not  be  entrusted 
with  the  depositing  of  the  seeds  of 
eternal  truth  in  virgin  soil.    We  are 
of  opinionthatthe  Infant-class  teacher 
should  first  of  all— his  piety  bting 
assumed — be  a  parent  himself,  and 
have  an  understanding  of  the  hearts 
and  tender  feelings  of  early  child- 
hood ;  secondly,  that  he  should  have 
much  patience,  a  good  temper,  and 
considerable  vivacity  of  manner  i-id 


208 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


ingenuity  in  method,  so  that  he  may 
introduce  various  modes  of  iUustra- 
tion.  He  should  also  be  skilful  in 
that  art  so  little  understood  or  studied 
— the  art  of  questioning.  He  should 
have  a  sharp  eye,  a  quick  ear,  an 
encouraging  and  "winning  manner, 
and — for  a  purpose  that  will  pre- 
sently he  made  yery  obyious  —  a 
ready  hand  at  writing,  and,  if  pos- 
sible, at  sketching  too. — Ed,  Sunday - 
School  World. 

599.  Experience  needed,  —  We 
are  apt  to  think  that  the  lower 
classes  of  a  school  are  the  best 
suited  for  a  beginner  to  try  his  hand 
with.  I  know  well  that  when,  at 
about  the  age  of  sixteen,  I  offered 
myself  as  a  Sunday-school  teacher 
in  connexion  with  our  church,  they 
gaye  me  the  Infant-class,  and  in  the 
course  of  years  I  advanced  slowly 
and  steadily,  taking  each  class  in 
succession,  until  I  was  entrusted 
with  the  highest.  But  now  that  I 
look  back  upon  tliis  arrangement,  I 
do  not  think  it  was  a  wise  one.  Far 
more  skill  and  teaching  power  are 
needed  by  the  teacher  of  an  Infant- 
class  than  by  one  who  has  older 
children  to  deal  with.  We  want 
our  yery  wisest  man,  or,  what  is 
better,  our  most  accomplished  and 
able  lady-teacher  for  our  Infant- 
class.  The  sort  of  practice  which  a 
beginner  needs  is  best  gained  in  a 
well-conducted  and  orderly  class  of 
average  boys  and  gii'ls,  neither  at 
the  bottom  nor  at  the  top  of  the 
school. — Fitch. 

600,  Qualifications. — An  infant 
teacher  must  be  possessed  of  no 
common  qualities.  She  must  know 
how  to  govern;  have  perfect  com- 
mand of  temper ;  great  gentleness, 
united  with  untiring  activity  and 
unbounded  energy;  she  must  be 
observant,  always  alive  to  what  is 
going  on,  letting  nothing  escape  her 


attention;  her  very  heart  and  soul 
must  be  absorbed  in  her  work ;  her 
imagination  must  be  on  the  alert, 
and  her  physical  powers  in  health; 
for  frequent  variety  and  incessant 
occupation  is  the  grand  secret  for 
conducting  skilfully  an  Infant-school. 
— Davids. 


601. 


"We  would  then  place 


every  new  comer  into  this  second 
position,  taking  care  that  the  weak- 
est, and  those  who  had  most  to  learn, 
should  be  associated  with  the  best ; 
the  most  thoughtless  with  the 
grayest  ;  but  never  assuming  that 
any  raw  recruit  will  do  for  the 
Iniant-class.  That  is  one  of  the 
most  dangerous  heresies  in  con- 
nexion with  this  subject. — Fitch. 

602.  Need  of  Liveliness. — To 
teach  the  Infant-school  requires,  in 
the  first  place,  great  vivacity  of 
manner.  The  teacher  must  be  full 
of  life,  ready  of  utterance,  and  rapid 
in  motion.  The  knowledge  to  be 
communicated  must  be  all  at  the  tip 
of  the  tongue.  There  is  no  time,  in 
the  Infant- class,  for  slow  elaboration 
of  thought,  for  long  circumlocutions, 
or  ponderous  abstractions.  The  know- 
ledge must  be  aU  sorted,  parcelled 
out,  and  ready  for  instantaneous 
delivery.  A  lively  imagination  is 
indispensable.  A  streak  of  quiet 
humour  does  not  come  amiss.  All 
children  are  born  humourists.  All 
children  also  are  instinctively  dra- 
matic. A  good  infant  teacher  must 
be  a  good  story-teUer,  and  ought  to 
be  something  of  an  actor.  Things 
must  be  pictured  out,  so  that  they 
can  be  vividily  realized  by  the  imagi- 
nation. The  eyes  and  the  hands  of 
the  teacher  must  be  as  active  as  the 
tongue.  No  part  of  the  person  indeed 
can  be  idle.  Sitting  down  is  out  of 
the  question.  Using  a  text-book  is 
equally  denied.  The  teacher  must 
be  all  the  while  on  her  feet,  all  the 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


209 


while  in  motion,  hearing  everything, 
seeing  every  one,  ready  to  start  some- 
thing new  the  instant  another  matter 
is  ended,  never  at  a  loss  for  a  story, 
or  a  good  Bible  verse,  with  a  heart 
full  of  love,  and  a  voice  full  of 
melody,  and,  if  possible,  with  that 
pleasant,  sunshiny  face  that  goes  so 
directly  to  the  child's  heart.  Above 
all  things,  the  infant  teacher  must  be 
a  good  singer. — Dr.  Hart. 

603.  There  is  nothing  that 

so  stirs  a  child  as  liveliness  of  manner. 
Children  will  respond  to  every  gleam 
of  the  eye,  to  every  throb  of  the  heart ; 
but  as  by  intuition  they  will  detect 
and  repudiate  a  lukewarm  earnest- 
ness or  a  counterfeited  enthusiasm. 
You  must  believe  what  you  say,  and 
say  what  you  believe,  with  a  roused 
heart,  else  you  never  can  rouse  your 
hearers.  Jael  put  his  nail  to  the  head 
of  Sisera,  and  drove  it  sheer  and  clear 
through  his  brain.  Sometimes  the 
adult  speaker  must  have  a  rhetoric 
which  will  thus  force  its  way  through 
the  brain ;  but  the  speaker  to  children 
should  come  to  them  with  the  mellow, 
winning,  heavenly  style  of  St.  John, 
making  them  see  how  precious  their 
souls  are ;  how  lost  without  Christ ; 
and  then  how  his  own  yearns  for 
theirs.  Against  the  heart  filled  and 
overflowing  with  the  Divine  love,  no 
other  heart  can  stand.  Tears  will 
call  for  tears,  love  for  love,  tender- 
ness for  tenderness.  Arm  yourself 
thus — have  your  eye  steadily  fixed ; 
resolve,  God  helping  you,  on  con- 
quest ;  forget  the  present  in  the 
eternal ;  invoke  the  Holy  Spirit ;  ask 
God  to  show  you  the  way  of  seizing 
hearts,  and  your  words  must  accom- 
plish their  purpose.  Stories,  and 
facts,  and  incidents,  and  pictures 
may  rule  for  the  moment,  but  these 
are  only  aids  in  the  approach  to  the 
citadel  of  hearts  that  you  aim  to 
make  yours  and  Christ's.  Let  no- 
thing divert  you  from  this  one  thing. 


and  that  one  thing — the  salvation  of 
the  children — shall  be  accomplished. 
— House. 

604.  Cheerfulness.  —  If  I  come 
with  my  face  drawn  up  like  a  baked 
apple — is  that  the  figure  ? — or  rigid, 
hard,  ''pious,"  you  may  term  it,  if 
you  have  a  mind  to,  it  will  not  be 
long  before  1  shall  have  before  me 
hard,  rigid  faces,  like  pinched  apples 
in  my  class ;  for  like  teacher,  like 
scholar.  If  the  love  of  Jesus  glows 
in  the  teacher's  face,  the  class  will 
reflect  it.  The  type  of  piety  in  a 
teacher  is  photographed  on  the  scho- 
lars when  they  are  converted.  Adapt 
yourself  to  youthful  circumstances 
and  conditions.  It  will  not  do  to 
get  into  a  tree  and  call  out,  "  You 
poor  sinners,  come  up  here !  "  The 
"  poor  sinners"  won't  come.  You 
must  get  down  upon  their  level  and 
raise  them  to  yours,  little  by  little. 
It  does  not  do  to  despise  the  feeble 
attainments  in  grace  and  knowledge 
of  any;  to  look  upon  men  around 
you  as  poor,  wretched  creatures,  and 
sin  with  the  Pharisee  as  he  looks  at 
the  Publican  and  says,  "  My!  how 
far  from  Christ  he  is !"  Once  when 
I  was  complaining  of  the  lack  of 
certain  teachers  to  my  old  pastor, 
Dr.  Hutton,  he  said,  ' '  Yes ;  I  think 
they  are  just  about  where  you  were 
when  I  first  knew  you  !  "  It  cut. — 
R.  Wells. 


605. 


Make   not   religion  a 


repulsive,  gloomy  thing.  A  mother, 
who  had  taken  much  pains  to  imbue 
her  children's  minds  with  feelings  of 
love  to  God,  as  a  kind  and  tender 
Father,  was  laid  on  a  bed  of  sick- 
ness: the  children  were  committed 
to  the  care  of  an  aunt,  pious,  and 
wishful  rightly  to  instruct  their 
tender  minds,  but  imwise  in  the 
methods  she  employed.  After  the 
lapse  of  a  few  weeks,  the  children 
were   admitted  into  their  mother's 


210 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


bedroom.  Some  words  tliey  dropped 
in  play  struck  her  watchful  ear  ;  and 
calling  the  eldest,  a  boy  about  six, 
she  enquired,  "What  are  you  play- 
ing at?"  '<  About  God  killing 
Jesus."  '*  What  do  you  mean,  my 
dear  ?"  "  Oh,  aunt  has  told  us  how 
cruel  God  was.  I  used  to  love  God 
very  much ;  but  I  do  not  love  Him 
now ;  it  was  so  cruel  of  Him  to  kill 
His  dear  Son  Jesus  !" — Davids. 

606.  Power  of  Observation. — One 
of  the  greatest  safeguards  for  the 
attention  of  the  class  is  the  cultiva- 
tion, on  the  teacher's  part,  of  quick- 
ness of  eye  and  ear.  It  is  surpris- 
ing, sometimes,  to  see  teachers  ad- 
dressing themselves  to  one  part  of 
their  class,  and  apparently  uncon- 
cious  that  another  part  is  listless  and 
uninterested.  They  seem  incapable 
of  taking  in  the  whole  class  at  one 
glance.  Their  eyes  move  slowly, 
and  they  either  do  not  see  the  dis- 
order and  trifling  which  lurks  in  the 
corner  of  their  class,  or  they  do  not 
care  to  notice  what  would  give  them 
some  little  trouble  to  remedy.  A 
person  of  this  kind  will  never  keep 
up  attention,  nor  prove  a  successftil 
teacher,  however  well  he  may  be 
provided  with  knowledge,  and  how- 
ever anxious  he  may  be  to  do  good. 
—J.   G.  Fitch. 

607.  Eyes.  —  We  have  spoken 
much  and  often  of  blackboards, 
maps,  pictorial  cards,  natural  ob- 
jects, and  apparatus  of  various 
kinds,  as  among  the  urgent  wants 
of  the  teacher  ;  but  there  is  one 
thing  which  he  wants  more  than 
all  these,  and  that  is  eyes.  A  good 
pair  of  eyes  are  to  the  teacher,  in 
the  government  of  his  school,  worth 
more  than  the  rod ;  more  than  any 
system  of  merit  or  demerit  marks  ; 
more  than  keeping  in  after  school ; 
more  than  scolding,  reporting  to 
parents,    suspension,  or    expulsion ; 


more  than  coaxing,  premiums,  and 
bribes  in  any  shape  or  to  any  amount. 
The  very  first  element  in  school 
government,  as  in  every  other  go- 
vernment, is  that  the  teacher  should 
know  what  is  going  on  in  his  little 
kingdom,  and  for  this  knowledge  he 
needs  a  pair  of  eyes.  Most  teachers, 
it  is  true,  seem  to  be  furnished  with 
this  article ;  but  it  is  in  appearance 
only.  They  have  something  in  the 
upper  of  the  face  which  looks  like 
eyes,  but  every  one  knows  that  ap- 
pearances are  deceiving.  They  look 
over  a  school  or  an  assembly  of  any 
kind,  and  are  vaguely  conscious  that 
things  are  going  on  wrong  all  around 
them,  just  as  people  sometimes  grope 
about  in  a  dark  room  filled  with  bats, 
and  are  aware  that  something  is  flit- 
ting about,  but  they  have  no  power 
of  seeing  distinctly  any  one  object. 
It  is  amazing  how  little  some  people 
see,  who  seem  to  have  eyes.  The 
fact  is,  there  is  an  entirely  mis- 
taken notion  on  this  whole  subject. 
Having  the  eyes  open,  and  seeing, 
are  two  distinct  things.  Infants 
have  their  eyes  open,  but  they  do 
not  see  anything,  in  the  sense  in 
which  that  word  is  generally  used. 
Light  comes  into  those  open  win- 
dows, the  moving  panorama  of  ex- 
ternal natui'e  passes  before  them, 
but  distinct  vision,  which  recognises 
and  individualizes  objects,  is  some- 
thing more  than  a  mere  passive, 
bodily  sensation — it  is  a  mental  act. 
It  is  the  mind  rousing  itself  into 
consciousness,  and  putting  forth 
its  powers  into  voluntary  and  self- 
determined  activity.  Nothing  in  the 
history  of  childhood  is  more  interest- 
ing than  to  watch  this  awakening  of 
the  mind  in  infancy,  to  notice  how 
the  whole  face  brightens  up  when 
the  little  stranger  first  begins  ac- 
tually to  see  things.  The  misfor- 
tune with  many  people  is,  that  in 
this  matter  of  vision,  they  seem 
never  to  get  beyond  the  condition 


SUJIfDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


211 


of    infancy.      They    go    along    the 
street,  or  they  move  about  in  a  room, 
in  a  sort  of  dreamy  state,  their  eyes 
open,  but  seeing  nothing.    A  teacher 
of  this  kind,  no  matter  what  amount 
of  disorder  is  going  on  before  him, 
never   sees   any  one  particular  act. 
He  sees  things  in  the  mass,  instead 
of  seeing   individual  things.      The 
difference  between  teachers  in  this 
faculty   of    seeing    tilings    is   more 
marked  probably  than  in  any  other 
quality  that  a  man  can  have.     Two 
teachers  may  stand  before  the  same 
class  :    one   will  merely    be    aware 
that  there  is  a  general  disorder  and 
noise   throughout    the   room,    with- 
out being  able  to  identify  any  scholar 
in  particular  as  transgressing  ;   the 
others  will  notice  that  John  is  talk- 
ing, that  James  is  pulling  his  neigh- 
bo  ui''s  hail',  that  William  is  drum- 
ming on  the  desk  with  his  fingers, 
that  Andrew  is  munching  an  apple, 
that  Peter  is  making  caricatures  on 
his  slate,  and  so  on.     To  have  this 
power   of    seeing  things,    it   is   not 
necessary  that   one   should  be   sly, 
or  should  use  stealth  of  any  kind. 
Knowledge   gained    by   such    mean 
practices  always  lowers  a  teacher  in 
the  estimation  of  his  scholars,  and 
weakens    instead    of    strengthening 
iiim.      Whatever  a  teacher  does  in 
the  way  of  observation  of  his  scho- 
lars,   should    be    done   openly    and 
aboveboard.      And   after   all,    more 
can  be  seen  in  this  way,  by  one  who 
knows    how,   than  by   any   of    the 
stealthy  practices   usually  resorted 
to.     Darting  the  eyes  about  rapidly 
in  one  direction  and  another,  is  not 
a    good   way   to   make   discoveries. 
Seeing  is  accomplished,  not  so  much 
by  the  activity  of  the  bodily  organ, 
as  by  mental  activity.     The  man's 
mind  must  be  awake.     This  in  fact 
is   the  secret  of  the  whole  matter. 
The  more  the  face  and  eyes  are  quiet, 
and  the   mind  is  on  tlie  alert,  the 
more  a  man  will  see.      Seeing   is 


rather  a  mental  than  a  bodily  act, 
though  of  course  the  bodily  organ  is 
necessary  to  its  accomplishment. 
To  be  a  good  observer,  on©  must 
maintain  a  quiet  and  composed  de- 
meanour, but  be  thoroughly  wide- 
awake within. 

608.  Perm  a  Eight  Estimate  of 
your  Work. — The  king  ordered  a 
work  in  mosaic  for  the  ceiling  of  his 
presence  chamber.  The  royal  artist 
designed  and  painted  the  pattern  for 
the  mosaicist.  The  mosaicist  gave 
to  his  foreman  an  order  for  the  sec- 
tilia,  which  were  to  be  chosen,  cut 
and  polished,  and  then  arranged  in 
the  picture.  The  foreman  gave  to 
each  of  his  artisans  a  portion  of  the 
work:  to  one  the  hesh-tints,  to 
another  the  azure,  the  different 
shades  of  green  to  another;  and  thus 
the  stones  of  divers  colours  were  dis- 
tributed among  the  workmen.  Now 
only  the  king,  the  painter,  and  the 
mosaicist  knew  what  the  picture  was 
to  be,  and  where  it  was  to  be  placed. 
All  that  the  workmen  knew  was, 
that  the  cubes  of  precious  stones 
were  to  be  fashioned  and  polished 
after  the  directions  of  theii*  superior. 
It  was,  moreover,  a  rule  of  the  shop 
that  no  man  should  be  told  of  how 
great  or  how  little  value  the  frag- 
ments committed  to  him  were,  so 
that  esteeming  all  of  great  value,  he 
might  be  equally  careful  of  all. 
Said  the  foreman,  "  Over  carefulness 
of  the  rarer  gems  may  lead  to  an 
undervaluing  of  the  less  costly;  and 
sometimes  the  perfection  of  a  picture 
woven  in  stone  depends  as  much 
upon  the  cheap  as  upon  the  costly 
material  employed."  Now  in  the 
workshop  there  was  a  man  who  said 
to  himself,  as  he  picked  up  a  single 
cube  one  day,  *'  How  can  so  small  a 
thing  as  this  make  itself  essential  in 
so  great  a  picture  as  a  king  covets, 
and  a  royal  artist  designs  ?  It  is 
only  one,  and  of  no  tvorth."     So  his 


212 


STJNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


thouglit  made  his  fingers  unsteady; 
lie  handled  the  gem  carelessly ;  cut 
it  roughly ;  marred  its  most  beautiful 
facet ;  and  tossed  it  into  the  pile  of 
completed  smalti  that  lay  on  his 
table.  It  so  happened  that  the  cube 
in  question  was  one  of  rare  worth, 
and  indispensable  to  the  picture. 
When,  therefore,  the  mosaicist  came 
to  combine  the  sectilia  according  to 
the  painter's  pattern,  and  sought  the 
choicest  gems  for  their  appointed 
places,  he  found,  to  his  utter  dismay, 
that  the  rarest  of  them  all  had  been 
marred  beyond  the  possibility  of 
restoration,  and  all  this  through  the 
indifference  and  the  careless  manipu- 
lation of  one  of  the  workmen.  Then 
the  man  was  brought  before  the 
king,  liis  fault  confessed,  his  neglect 
announced,  his  shame  proclaimed, 
and  his  place  vacated.  The  price  of 
the  gem  was  demanded  at  his  hands ; 
but  when  his  estate  was  sold,  it  was 
ascertained  that  not  a  tithe  of  the 
king's  loss  could  thereby  be  made 
good.  It  was  told  the  king  also  that 
the  man  had  said,  ^^  It  is  only  one, 
and  of  no  ivorth.''''  And  the  king 
commanded  that  the  man's  forehead 
should  be  branded  with  these  words. 
But  while  the  king's  servant  at- 
Ifcmpted  to  fulfill  this  mandate,  the 
hot  brand  slipped  as  it  touched  the 
workman's  brow,  and  left  there  only 
these  words,  ''  Of  no  woeth."  And 
these  he  carried  with  him  to  his 
grave. 

Tor  the  eternal  palace  of  our  King 
a  picture  of  rarest  beauty  and  glory 
is  being  prepared  by  the  great 
Mastee,  who  picked  up  among  the 
ruins  of  Judea  and  Galilee  some  of 
its  fi.rst  and  richest  gems  more  than 
eighteen  hundred  years  ago.  Fellow 
teachers,  ive  are  this  Master's  workmen 
and  disciples.  What  the  picture  in  its 
celestial  completeness  is  to  be  we 
know  not;  only  this  we  do  know, 
that  *'unto  the  principalities  and 
powers  in  heavenly  places  "  shall  be 


''known  by  the  Church  the  manifold 
wisdom  of  God,"  and  that  unto  us, 
though  we  be  "less  than  the  least  of  all 
saints,  is  this  grace  given"  that  we 
should  teach  the  Gospel  to  men,  and 
bring  them  to  the  knowledge  of  Christ 
Jesus.  We  know  this  also,  that  in 
the  workshop  of  the  Sunday-school 
there  are  gems  of  greater  and 
lesser  worth,  for  each  of  which  God 
has  provided  a  place  in  His  plan  of 
grace  and  glory.  We  know  not  the 
measure  of  their  worth.  Purposely 
and  wisely  God  has  hidden  this  from 
us.  Let  us  not  say  in  a  single  in- 
stance, "  It  is  only  one,  and  of  no 
worth ^''  lest  at  the  last  our  error 
supply  our  epitaph,  and  over  the 
remains  of  a  wasted  life  one  of  God's 
angels  write,  "  Op  no  woetb:." — 
J.  H.  Vincent. 

609.  Terms  higher  and  lower  in 
the  Sunday-school. — What  mean 
the  remarks  often  heard  about  higher 
and  lower  classes  ?  The  highest  class 
is  the  one  in  which  most  good  is 
doing.  We  have  sometimes  won- 
dered what  is  the  magic  charm  of 
this  higher  class.  What  constitutes 
precedency  in  a  Sabbath-school  ? 
Is  it  the  age  of  the  scholars,  or 
their  ability  to  read  well,  or  their 
knowledge  of  the  Scriptures,  or 
their  correct  behaviour,  or  their 
susceptibility  of  religious  impres- 
sion ?  We  have  often  seen  so-called 
fourth  or  fifth  classes  that  have  been 
much  higher,  in  every  respect,  than 
the  first.  Be  willing  then,  to  go 
where  you  are  asked  to  go,  and 
teach  what  you  are  told  to  teach. 
Davids. 


610.  Worthy  of  Imitation.— 
A  school  meeting  was  held  in  a 
certain  country  village,  for  the 
purpose  of  discussing  the  point, 
"  Whether  an  Infant-class  shall 
be  formed?"  The  minister  and 
teachers  took  up  the  question  with 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL  WOKLD. 


213 


spirit,   all  admitted  its  importance, 
difficulties  were  started,  but  one  by 
one  they  were  all  set  at  rest,  save 
and  except  tMs — "  Who  is  to  be 
the  teacher  ?  "     Over  and  over  again 
the  question  was  put.     One  name 
after   another    was    suggested,   but 
**all    with    one    consent    began  to 
make  excuse."     The  failure  of  the 
plan    seemed     imminent,    and    the 
discussion  was  on  the  point  of  being 
postponed,  sine  die,  when  up  rose  a 
man  in  one   corner  of  the  chapel, 
who,  unobserved,  had  been  sitting 
musing,    till    the    ''  fire    burned." 
His  words   were  few  but   earnest : 
*'  Sooner  than  them  little  ones  shan't 
have  no  teacher,    sir,    I'll  try  it." 
AH    eyes    were    tui-ned    upon    the 
volunteer.      He  was    a  tall,   dark- 
visaged,  ill-conditioned  looking  man, 
and  people  stood  amazed  as  they  re- 
cognised in  him  the  village  black- 
smith.    Of  all  men  he  seemed  the 
least  likely  to  attract  children.    His 
voice  was  harsh,    and  his  counte- 
nance and  manner  rough,   and  al- 
most   unpleasing.      No    one    could 
believe  it  possible  that  he    was  in 
earnest.     But  he  was,  and  though 
the  smile  went  round,  and  the  scep- 
tical whispered  their   doubts,    that 
man  went  home    resolved    to    try. 
He  did  try,  and  for  months,  while 
every  one  supposed  the  work  aban- 
doned,  this  teacher  was    training. 
He  felt  his  difficulties.     He  had  to 
learn  a  new  language.     He  borrowed 
of    a  lady   some    children's   books, 
and,  takiiig  Mrs.  Hooker's  ''Bible 
Stories,"   he   set  himself   to  work. 
He  read  and  thought ;   shutting  the 
book,  he  tried  to  write  the  stories 
out  in  his  own  words.     Early  and 
late  he  toiled    at    these   appointed 
tasks.     Often  he  failed,  but  at  last, 
like    Bruce' s   spider,  he   succeeded. 
He  had  learnt  the   secret.     He  had 
acquired  simplicity  of  thought  and 
expression.     He  had  brought  down 
his  mind  to  the  level  of   a  little 


child's  mind.     It  was  now  time  to 
begin.     He  was   a  wise  man.     Not 
parading  his  triumph,  but  humbly 
watching  his  opportunity,  he  made 
his    first    attempt.     In    the   dusky 
afternoon  of  a  November  day,  some 
little  ones  stood  at  his  smithy  door, 
watching  the  bright  sparks  shoot- 
ing out  from  the  glowing  embers  of 
the  blacksmith's  forge,  as  they  were 
now  being  quickened  into  a  blazing 
fire.     These  children  had  often  wan- 
dered there    before,   to  feast  their 
eyes   on  this  wondrous  scene,    and 
to  listen  to  the  roar  of  the  mighty 
bellows.     But  sometimes    the  man 
had   spoken  roughly  to   them,    and 
even    now,    as    they   looked,    they 
seemed    undecided    as    to  whether 
they  dared  to  stay.     But  this  time, 
the  blacksmith's  face,  seen  by  the 
reflection  of  the  fitful  flame,  wore  a 
different  aspect,  and,  as  he  turned 
his  eyes  on  them,  the  children  felt 
more  confidence.     Edging  nearer  to 
the    door,    they  gathered    courage, 
and  gradually   ventured  in.      The 
smith    spoke.     His  very  voice,    no 
longer  gruff  and  harsh,   was  kind 
and  pleasant,   and  now  he  spoke  to 
them,  not  at  them,  as  before.     They 
listened   as  he    talked.     His  heart 
was     encouraged,    and    their    little 
hearts  warmed  with  strange  liking 
to  the  altered  man.     He  drew  the 
heated  bar  fi'om  the  fire,  and  laying 
it  on  the  anvil,  the  swarthy  black- 
smith made  it   the   subject  of  his 
first  lesson  to  his  new  Infant-class, 
and   the    first   schoolroom   was  the 
village  forge.     That  man  has  now 
one   of   the  best  Infant-classes    in 
England,  and  a  hundred  little  ones 
rejoice  to  call  him  friend  and  teacher. 
—Sunday-school  Teacher^  American. 

611.  Physical  Qualifications. — 
A  very  pious  and  excellent  man, 
who  had  been  in  his  majesty's  ser- 
vice, and  had  lost  part  of  his  right 
arm,  was  engaged  as  master.    My 


214 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


opinion  was  that  he  would  he  suitable 
in  every  respect ;  hut  I  was  in  error, 
as  the  sequel  proved.  All  acquainted 
with  the  infant  system  know  that  it 
includes  much  manual  exercise,  such 
as  clapping  hands,  putting  the  arms 
out  horizontally,  and  holding  them 
up  perpendicularly ;  and  with  these 
evolutions  he  was  much  pleased,  but 
having  only  one  hand,  he  was  com- 
pelled to  pat  with  his  stump.  In 
consequence  of  this,  every  child  in 
the  school,  to  my  great  surprise,  hent 
his  arm  and  patted  with  his  elbow. 
When  I  told  them  to  put  their  arms 
out,  they  still  bent  one  in  imitation 
of  him,  and  twisted  the  body  round 
<o  make  the  shortened  arm  parallel 
with  the  other ;  and  every  movement 
Avas  made  in  the  same  way.  I  bade 
them  not  do  so,  but  in  vain ;  and  as 
creat  distortion  would  have  resulted, 
I  was  compelled  most  reluctantly  to 
dismiss  him.  The  necessity  of  this 
he  clearly  saw,  and  from  his  delight 
in  the  work  greatly  deplored.  I 
have  since  seen,  from  visiting  many 
schools,  that  any  physical  defect 
^should  prevent  the  engagement  of  a 
person,  however  desirable  in  other 
respects,  either  as  a  master  or  mis- 
tress. I  know,  for  instance,  a  master 
who  had  a  cast  in  his  eye,  and  all 
the  young  children  squinted ;  and 
fiuother  who  had  a  club-foot,  in 
imitation  of  whom  all  the  children 
limped. — Todd, 


METHODS. 


612.  Manner  in  Teaching.  — 
Having  referred  to  the  necessity  and 
importance  of  infant-training,  and  to 
the  qualifications  of  the  teacher,  I 
would  now  direct  your  attention  to 
the  most  important  part  of  the  sub- 
ject, viz.  the  manner  of  commimi- 
cating  instruction.  A  quaint  writer 
has  described  teaching  "as  taking 


a    thought 


out  of  one  mind  and 
planting  it  in  another  mind,  so  that 
it  may  grow  there."  How  best  this 
can  be  done  should  be  the  study  of 
those  who  have  charge  of  Infant- 
classes.  The  short  time  allowed  for 
this  paper  will  not  permit  me  to  give 
examples  or  enter  into  such  details 
as  would  be  necessary  to  illustrate 
the  s^'stem  of  infant-training.  I 
shall,  therefore,  simply  direct  your 
attention  to  a  few  general  principles. 
'Not  to  be  too  minute,  I  would  say 
that  liveliness  of  manner  and  si^n- 
jilicity  of  lanf/uage  are  essentials  in 
infant  teaching.  Charles  Reed,  in 
his  prize  essay,  says:  "  Childhood's 
birthright  is  its  innocent  joy,  and  no 
restraint  should  forfeit  its  beautiful 
heritage  of  young  delight.  The 
joyous  freshness  of  their  young  na- 
tm-es  should  be  preserved  while  they 
learn  the  duties  that  fit  them  for  this 
life  and  the  next.  Wipe  away  their 
tears — cherish  their  smiles — let  theia 
learn  to  draw  happiness  from  all  sur- 
rounding objects."  All  other  quali- 
fications will  avail  but  little  if  life 
and  energy  be  wanting.  A  dreamy, 
listless  way  of  moving  and  speaking 
will  never  suit  infants.  Infant 
teachers  should  not  allow  them- 
selves to  fall  into  a  formal,  mono- 
tonous manner,  or  to  sit  like  statues, 
unmoved  in  postui'e  and  in  features', 
but  rather,  by  coimtenance,  eye,  and 
voice,  prove  that  they  feel  interested 
in  their  lesson,  and  are  anxious  that 
their  children  should  be  so  too.  Ever 
meet  your  class  with  a  smile  of  plea- 
sure. Strive  to  gain  the  entii'e  love 
and  confidence  of  your  children,  and 
to  establish  a  happy  familiarity  be- 
tween them  and  you.  Become  one 
with  them  in  feeling  and  action,  and 
encourage  them  to  talk  to  you  with 
childlike  confidence,  as  a  child  talks, 
to  its  parent.  Don't  be  afraid  to  set 
one  of  the  little  ones  on  your  knee, 
to  tell  it  in  simple  language  the  story 
of  the  Saviour's  love.     Let  love  h& 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


215 


the  reigning  power,  and  endeavour 
to  make  the  Infant-class  as  like  home 
and  as  unlike  school  as  possible. — 
JR.  Maffill,  Belfast. 

613.  Variety. — Devise  means  by 
which  physical  exercise  can  be  af- 
forded. The  child  is  a  bundle 
of  restless  nerve  and  muscle,  and 
he  will  move,  no  mattter  what  your 
rules.  Let  bim  move  as  part  of 
the  duties  of  the  lesson.  Raise 
your  hand  and  require  all  to  rise, 
drop  it,  and  let  all  resume  their 
seats.  Let  the  singing  come  in 
frequently,  and  diversify  it  by  move- 
ments of  the  hands,  or  otherwise. 
Now  and  then  the  scholars  on  the 
front  seats,  or  on  the  middle  ones, 
or  on  the  top  ones,  or  one  or  two  sec- 
tions together,  may  be  called  on  to 
sing  a  verse,  then  let  the  whole  room 
join  together.  Sometimes  with  good 
effect  a  single  boy  or  girl  can  sing  a 
verse  alone. — House. 

614.  An  Experiment. — There  was 
a  certain  lady,  teacher  of  an  Infant- 
class,  who,  feeling  the  value  of  lodg- 
ing the  Scriptures  early  in  the  minds 
of  her  forty  little  scholars,  required 
each  one  separately^  each  Sabbath, 
to  recite  the  lesson.  For  two  years 
she  tramped  this  treadmill,  to  her 
own  discouragement  and  weariness, 
and  the  fretting  and  worrying  of 
the  poor,  restless  children.  A  friend 
suggested,  "  Why  not,  Mrs.  B.,  have 
a  ^;a;'^  of  your  school  recite  to- 
gether?" "How  shall  I  know 
whether  all  have  committed  the 
lesson?"  "Suppose  you  call  on 
the  last  row  to  rise   and  recite   in 

■  concert,  then  the  fii'st  row,  then 
call  upon  a  few  at  the  end  of  the 
bench,  then  upon  John  and  James, 
and  Mary  and  Susan — three  or  four 
scholars — to  recite  alone.  Then  ask 
all  the  children  who  do  not  know 
their  lesson  j^e^lfectly  to  hold  up  their 
hands,  afterward  those  who  do  know 


it.  Thus  you  will  find  out  pretty 
nearly  who  do  not  know  the  lesson. 
Next  Sabbath  call  particularly  for 
those  who  did  not  know  it  before." 
The  change  of  plan  was  tried,  and 
in  a  few  Sabbaths  the  whole  com- 
plexion of  the  school,  teacher,  and 
scholars,  had  changed.  Wliere  be- 
fore was  weariness,  now  was  pleasure ; 
where  before  was  lifelessness,  now 
was  vigour  and  sprightliness ;  and 
where  before  was  disorder,  now  was 
completest  order  and  harmony.  — 
ITouse, 

615.  Order. —  Young  children, 
like  all  other  young  animals,  are 
by  nature  restless  and  fidgety,  and 
like  to  make  a  noise.  It  is  possible, 
indeed,  by  a  system  of  vigorous  and 
harsh  repression,  to  restrain  this 
restlessness,  and  to  keep  these  little 
ones  for  an  hour  or  more  in  such  a 
state  of  decorous  primness  as  not  to 
molest  weak  nerves.  But  such  a 
system  of  forced  constraint  is  not 
natural  to  children,  any  more  than 
to  lambs  or  to  kittens,  and  it  is  not 
a  wise  method  of  teaching,  either 
for  the  Sabbath-school,  or  the  week- 
day-school. Let  the  youngsters 
make  a  noise,  only  let  it  be  noise 
of  the  right  kind,  and  duly  regu- 
lated. Let  them  exercise,  not  only 
their  lungs,  but  also  their  limbs, 
moving  ia  concert,  rising  up,  sitting 
down,  turning  round,  raising  their 
hands,  pointing  to  objects  to  which 
their  attention  is  called,  looking  at 
objects  which  are  shown  to  them. 
Movement  and  noise  are  the  life  of 
a  child.  In  school  they  should  be 
regulated,  but  not  repressed.  To 
make  young  children  sit  perfectly 
stni,  and  keep  perfect  silence  for 
any  considerable  length  of  time,  is 
next  door  to  murder.  I  do  verily 
believe  that  it  sometimes  is  murder. 
The  health,  and  often  the  lives  of 
the  little  ones  are  sacrificed  to  a 
false  theory,  drawn  from  our  ideas  of 


216 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


what  is  decorous  in  grown  folks.  I 
There  is  no  occasion  to  torture  a 
child  in  order  to  teach  it.  God  did 
not  so  mean  it.  Only  let  our  teach- 
ing  he  in  accordance  with  the  wants 
of  his  young  nature,  and  the  school- 
room will  he  to  the  child  the  hap- 
piest and  most  attractive  spot  on 
earth. — D.  Hart. 

616.  Eecapitulation. — When  the 
children  are  quietly  seated  on  the 
gallery  in  the  Infant-class-room,  the 
teacher  should  recapitulate  the  in- 
structions of  the  preceding  Sunday, 
and  hy  a  fe  pointed  questions  re- 
call the  teachings  then  given.  This 
is  especially  necessary  if  the  lesson 
or  lessons  of  the  day  he  part  of  a 
series.  To  economize  the  time,  the 
attendance  may  he  marked  by  the 
assistant  during  the  exercises,  or  as 
the  children  enter  the  class-room. 
With  a  little  practice  the  names  of 
the  scholars  become  quite  familiar, 
and  the  marking  of  the  attendance 
can  be  accomplished  without  inter- 
fering with  the  teaching  of  the  class. 
Each  morning  and  afternoon  the 
teacher  should  habitually  look  over 
the  Class  Register,  to  see  that  it  has 
been  properly  marked. — S.  S.  Hand- 
hook. 

617.  Concerted  Action.  —  Con- 
certed action  is  indispensable  in  the 
Infant-school.  They  sing  together, 
pray  together,  recite  together,  and 
in  all  things  act  as  one.  This  mode 
of  recitation  is  particularl  y  va  luale 
for  the  kind  of  lessons  which  are 
peculiarly  appropriate  to  that  age. 
Their  business  is  to  store  the  memory 
with  texts  of  Scripture,  hymns,  cate- 
chisms, and  other  forms  of  good 
words.  The  volume  of  sound  grow- 
ing out  of  the  united  voices  of  fifty 
or  a  hundred  children,  all  speaking 
in  measured  utterance,  precisely  the 
same  words,  powerfully  impresses  the 
memory,  and  children  learn  a  great 


deal  in   that  way  with  very  littlfe 
labour. — Dr.  Hart. 

618.  Enter  into  Detail. — Be  es- 
ceedingly  minute,  therefore,  with 
little  children.  In  all  the  details 
which  you  describe  take  very 
short  steps,  and  take  each  one- 
distinctly.  The  Bible  narratives, 
are  wonderfully  adapted  to  good  pic- 
torial teaching.  Bible  emblems, 
which  so  abound,  must  be  carefully 
pictured  out;  as,  **The  Lord  Grod 
is  a  sun  and  shield,"  a  *'rock,"  and 
"refuge,"  "As  the  hart  panteth,"" 
&c.  Detail  it  so  as  to  make  the 
scene  as  real  as  possible  to  the  child^ 
and  enable  him  to  see  the  hart,  the 
mountain,  the  water  brooks,  &c. — 
Tar  dee. 

619.  Be  simple. — We  forget  how 
and  when  ice  have  obtained  our 
knowledge,  and  are  in  danger  of 
speaking  to  children  just  as  a  Pro- 
fessor in  college  would  address  his 
class;  whereas  we  should  always 
recollect  that  what  is  so  easy  to  us 
is  new,  if  not  incomprehensible,  tc^ 
the  child.  I  once  made  the  experi- 
ment with  a  little  boy,  of  trying  to 
make  him  understand  everything 
which  I  taught  him.  At  the  close  of 
every  sentence  and  explanation  I 
would  ask  him  if  he  understood  it  ? 
He  soon  got  so  used  to  it,  that  he 
would  stop  me  and  say,  ^^  I  know 
^ stand ;"  •  and  I  was  surprised  to  see 
how  often  his  open,  ingenious  coun- 
tenance would  say  "  I  know  ^siand,''^ 
Just  make  the  experiment  any  way 
you  please,  and  you  will  be  surprised 
at  the  result.  I  recollect  having  a 
long  conversation  with  a  little  girl  on 
the  nature  and  society  of  heaven,  the 
characters;  employments  there,  and 
the  likoo  After  a  protracted  and 
very  interesting  conversation,  by 
which  I  supposed  she  had  obtained 
correct  impresssons,  I  was  thrown 
"  all  aback,"  as  sailors  say,  by  her 


A 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WORLD. 


217 


asking  in  tlie  most  artless  manner, 
^^  whether  her  new  ivhite  frock  would 
do  for  her  to  wear  there^ — Todd. 


620, 


Many  children  who 


have  been  in  Scripture  classes  for 
years  are  quite  ignorant  of  these 
first  elements,  because  teachers  ^tII 
not  take  the  trouble  to  teach ;  they 
sermonise,  and  lecture,  and  talk  to 
the  children,  but  impart  little  com- 
paratively of  instruction  and  train- 
ing.— Davids. 

621.  Example. — You  teU  a  man, 
"  He  went  down  to  the  shore,  and 
got  into  a  boat,  and  pushed  off." 
You  would  interest  a  child  more  if 
you  say,  "  He  went  down  to  the 
shore  and  found  a  boat  there.  One 
end  of  the  boat — the  front  part, 
which  they  call  the  bow — was  up 
against  the  shore,  a  little  in  the 
sand  ;  the  other  end  was  out  of 
the  water,  and  moved  up  and  down 
gently  with  the  waves.  There  were 
seats  across  the  boat,  and  two  oars 
lying  upon  the  seats.  The  man 
stepped  upon  the  bow  of  the  boat ; 
it  was  fast  in  the  mud."  And  so  on. 
—Ahhot. 

622.  Imagination.  —  You  have 
seen  how  readily  a  group  of  children 
will  gather  round  some  silver  -headed 
patriarch  (whose  imagination  has  long 
since  lost  its  youthful  vivacity,  and 
who  is  now  a  fine  example  of  Homer's 
'■^narrative  old  age^^),  and  hang  on 
the  simple  tale  he  tells.  He  pictures 
no  fairy  scene ;  he  paints  no  spiritual 
Utopia ;  and  yet  he  wins  those  chil- 
dren's attention  as  perfectly  as  Millais 
represented  young  Raleigh's  to  have 
been  gained  by  the  ''  Ancient  Ma- 
riner" in  his  famous  picture  at  the 
last  exhibition  (1870)  of  the  Eoyal 
Academy.  Learn  the  secret  of  his 
success :  his  matter  and  his  manner 
harmonise ;  he  narrates  events  ;  he 
tells  stories ;  his  language  is  quaint ; 
his  style  is  '■^old-fashioned.''''     Look 


at  yonder  teacher  surrounded  by  his 
troop  of  eager  listeners :  he  is  suiting 
his  manner  to  his  matter ;  he  is  paint- 
ing that  beautiful  picture  our  Saviour 
sketched,  beginning  with — "^  cer- 
tain man  had  two  sons^  Listen ! 
He  is  following  the  prodigal  from 
his  home  into  the  wilderness.  How 
naturally  he  paints  each  phase  in  the 
experience  of  the  wretched  wanderer ! 
The  little  ones  are  so  wrapt  in  the 
subject,  that  to  them — down  to  the 
very  least — it  is  a  living,  moving 
scene.  By-and-bye  the  prodigal  has 
spent  all,  comes  to  himself,  thinks  of 
his  home  and  his  father,  and  in  ragged 
dress  commences  his  penitent  return. 
One  little  fellow  is  so  excited  by  the 
scene  presented  to  his  mind  that,  un- 
consciously recalling,  perhaps,  certain 
delinquencies  of  his  own  and  their 
punishment,  he  suddenly  shouts  out, 
"Oh!  won't  he  catch  it!"  What 
teacher  could  need  a  better  tribute 
to  his  power  to  interest  his  class,  or 
be  furnished  with  a  more  apt  remark 
on  which  to  found  a  comparison  of 
the  earthly  father's  anger  and  the 
Almighty  Father's  love  ? — Ed.  Sun- 
day-School World. 

623.  Illustration.  —  In  addition 
to  liveliness  of  manner  and  simplicity 
of  language,  the  infant  teacher  must 
carefully  cultivate  the  use  of  illus- 
tration. "  Illustrations  are  abso- 
lutely necessary  to  good  teaching ; 
they  make  the  subject  more  inte- 
resting ;  they  are  the  spices  which 
give  it  a  relish,  and  they  present 
truth  in  a  form  easily  to  be  remem- 
bered." They  explain  something  un- 
known, or  imperfectly  known,  by 
what  is  well  known.  A  Bible  doc- 
trine when  thus  illustrated  will  fix 
itself  in  the  memory  of  the  child, 
when  the  mere  statement  of  an 
abstract  truth  will  leave  no  im- 
pression. The  great  power  of  illus- 
tration is  in  its  natural  application. 
Never  use  an  illustration  unless  there 


218 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WORLD. 


is  some  triitli  to  be  illustrated ;  and 
let  there  be  such  a  coimexion  between 
the  illustration  and  the  truth  that, 
when  the  one  is  remembered,  the 
other  will  be  inseparably  associated 
with  it. — H.  Magill,  Belfast. 

624.  Avoid  Pigui'es. — Avoid  the 
use  of  figures,  in  which  the  Bible 
abounds,  and  not  one  of  which  a 
child  can  understand  without  ex- 
planation. A  boy  at  school  wrote 
a  pious  letter  to  a  little  brother  at 
home,  who  was  just  four  years  old. 
In  it  he  expressed  the  wish  that  his 
brother  might  be  one  of  Christ's  little 
lambs.  The  mother,  turning  to  her 
boy,  said,  ' '  Oh,  Edward,  that  would 
be  very  nice!  would  it  not?"  To 
the  mother's  surprise  and  sorrow,  the 
child  replied,  ' '  IS^o ;  I  do  not  want 
to  be  one  of  Christ's  lambs  at  all." 
"■  Why  not  ?  how  is  that,  Edward  ?" 
'*  I  do  not  want  to  have  four  legs 
and  a  tail,  and  to  eat  grass,"  was  the 
very  natural  reply  of-  the  child. — 
Davids. 

625.  Various  Plans.  —  Hymns, 
passages  of  Scripture,  and  simple 
catechisms  may  be  taught  them 
orally.  The  first  grade  in  Mimpriss' 
system,  and  Scripture  prints,  may  be 
employed  with  advantage.  Objects 
of  nature — as  a  pebble,  or  a  flower — 
may  be  brought  before  them,  that 
they  may  learn  to  look  *'  from  nature 
up  to  nature's  God."  Two  of  the 
children  maj^  question  each  other, 
being  brought  out  in  front  of  the 
gallery,  and  in  sight  of  all  the 
scholars.  Sometimes  one  child  may 
appear  in  front,  and  any  one  that 
pleases  may  ask  him  a  question;  if 
he  cannot  answer  it,  he  retakes  his 
seat,  and  is  replaced  by  the  ques- 
tioner. Sometimes  this  mode  may 
be  reversed,  the  child  in.  front  ques- 
tioning the  entire  class.  The  in- 
genious teacher  will  devise  other 
experiments  for  imparting  instruc- 
tion, and  adopt  an  almost  infinite 


variety  of  mode  and  manner,  either 
to  win  or  maratain  interest  in  her 
playful  group.  At  the  close  of  school 
she  must  preserve  strict  order,  keep- 
ing all  perfectly  quiet,  while  the 
monitors  tidily  re-dress  the  little 
ones.  There  is  no  necessity  for  the 
clothes  to  be  torn,  and  pulled,  and 
bent ;  it  is  a  fault  which,  when 
allowed  to  pass  unnoticed,  exhibits 
a  sad  neglect  of  moral  training,  and 
properly  causes  dissatisfaction  and 
complaining  on  the  part  of  parents. 
— Davids. 

626. Another  Infant-class 

teacher  has  a  difierent  plan,  as  fol- 
lows :  She  has  arranged  with  a 
gentleman,  who  teaches  a  large  class 
of  young  ladies  of  sixteen  to  twenty 
years  of  age,  to  come  in  with  his  class 
and  conduct  the  opening  exercises  of 
the  Infant-school.  He  then  goes  into 
another  room  and  instructs  his  class 
for  thirty  minutes,  and  the  lady 
instructs  the  children  for  the  same 
time.  Then  the  Bible  class,  with 
their  teacher,  return,  and  the  Infant- 
school  is  divided  into  classes,  in  which 
the  young  ladies  teach  the  same  lesson 
which  they  have  just  received  fi"om 
their  teacher.  In  this  way  practice 
in  teaching  and  variety  are  gained, 
and  the  lady  teacher  in  the  Infant- 
school  is  relieved  of  a  part  of  her 
burden.  I  have  never  found  two 
Infant-class  teachers  who  conducted 
their  schools  exactly  alike.  Each 
one  has  some  peculiarity  in  his  or 
her  mode.  There  is  no  standard 
mode  of  Infant -class  instruction. 
Adaptation  according  to  circum- 
stances is  the  rule. — Pardee. 

627.  Form  right  Habits.— You 
should  be  unwearied  in  endeavouring 
to  form  right  habits.  Coming  to 
school  is  a  new  thing ;  but  let  this 
time  pass  by  unimproved — let  the 
first  golden  year  of  school  time  be 
lost — let  the  child  learn  to  read  with 
you,  and  pass  into  the  Scripture-class 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


219 


without  lla^dIlg  been  trained  to  right 
habits,  and  difficult,  if  not  vain,  will 
be  the  efforts  of  his  next  teacher  to 
implant  them.  We  allude  to  such 
habits  as  attention  in  class,  joining 
in  singing  and  prayer,  orderly  de- 
portment, regular  and  punctual  at- 
tendance . — JDa  V  ids. 

628.  Illustration. — A  lively  boy 
was  habitually  reproving  his  class- 
mates. The  teacher  one  day,  with 
imperturbable  gravity,  rose,  saying, 
"  James,  if  you  can  teach  better  than 
I  can,  you  may  take  niy  place."  The 
boy  looked  foolish ;  but  the  teacher 
would  take  no  denial.  He  changed 
places,  and  James  heard  the  class 
read  the  appointed  lesson  without 
much  difficulty — explaining  it  was 
another  affiiir.  He  stammered  and 
faltered,  till,  thoroughly  mortified, 
bursting  into  tears,  he  exclaimed, 
*'  Teacher,  I  will  not  tell  the  boys 
any  more.  Pray  let  me  have  my  own 
seat  again." — Davids. 

629.  The  Box  of  Letters.  — A 
Scripture  sentence  may  be  taught  as 
a  reading  exercise  with  the  box  of 
movable  letters.  Explanations  of 
the  words  of  this  reading  exercise, 
with  suitable  illustrations,  should 
be  given,  and  familiar  examinations 
carried  out  by  the  teacher,  the  scho- 
lars being  frequently  encouraged  to 
ask  questions,  so  that  the  subject 
may  be  properly  understood  and 
applied.  Between  the  several  class 
exercises,  infantile  hymns,  set  to 
lively,  appropriate  music,  should  be 
sung.  One  or  two  verses  of  a  suit- 
able hymn  should  be  likewise  taught 
by  dictation  each  Sunday.  If  the 
hj^mns. selected  for  singing  and  repe- 
tition can  be  brought  to  bear  upon 
the  several  lessons  of  the  day,  so 
much  the  better.  —  Sunday -School 
Handbook, 

630, The  mode  of  using  the 

box  should  be  varied,  according  to 


the  previous  attainments  of  the  scho- 
lars. It  is  advisable  to  separate  the 
totally  ignorant  from  those  who  know 
their  letters  and  a  few  easy  words. 
In  both  divisions  the  teacher  should 
select  and  prepare  the  lessons  before- 
hand. A  series  of  progressive  sen- 
tences or  lessons,  suited  for  the  letter- 
box, is  a  desideratum  much  needed 
in  our  schools.  There  is  danger  of 
too  frequently  putting  up  the  same 
words,  or  those  that  are  too  difficult 
or  too  simple.  A  teacher  the  other 
day  put  up  a  verse  of  a  hymn  with 
three  words  of  three  syllables  each 
in  it,  although  several  of  the  class 
did  not  know  their  letters.  In  the 
absence  of  anything  better,  we  should 
recommend  you  to  make  a  judicious 
selection  of  Scripture  passages,  easy 
to  read  and  easy  to  understand,  and 
take  the  class  through  them.  — 
Davids. 


OBJECT  TEAOHma. 

631.  Historical  Sketch.  —  The 
system  now  beginning  to  be  so 
eagerly  advocated  under  the  name 
of  "  Object  Teaching,"  is  substan- 
tially that  which  was  first  published 
by  Johann  Amos  Comenius  in  the 
first  half  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
and  was  reproduced  in  part  in  Ger- 
many by  the  philanthropists  under 
Basedon,  and  still  later  in  a  better 
form  by  Pestalozzi.  It  is  indirectly 
traceable,  no  doubt,  in  part  at  least, 
to  the  Baconian  system  of  philosophy. 
In  this  country  [America]  a  more 
advanced  development  of  it  was  the 
basis  of  the  educational  improve- 
ments so  long  and  vigorously  urged 
by  Josiah  Holbrook.  —  American 
Sunday- School  Teacher. 


632.  Object  Teaching  described. 
— This  is  presenting  an  object  to  look 


L  2 


220 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WOELD. 


at,  for  the  purpose  of  getting  a  clearer 
and  more  perfect  view  of  tlie  truth 
taught.  It  is  simply  calling  to  our 
aid  the  eye.  The  eye  is  one  of  our 
two  great  learning  senses.  It  has 
been  called  ''the  king  of  the  senses," 
and  it  is  emphatically  so  with  chil- 
dren; for  little  children  learn  the 
most  that  they  do  learn  through  the 
eye.  Bunyan  quaintlj^  says,  "  Come 
to  the  mind  and  soul  through  Eye- 
gate  as  well  as  through  Ear-gate." 
This  is  the  most  pleasant  and  effective 
way  of  giving  and  receiving  some 
kinds  of  knowledge.  It  cultivates, 
also,  the  important  habit  of  close  and 
accurate  observation.  Says  the  Eev. 
Dr.  Hill,  the  President  of  Harvard 
University :  "  It  is  the  thought  of 
God  in  the  object  that  stimulates  the 
child's  thought."  The  great  object 
is  to  teach  the  child  more  than  you 
can  express  in  words.  In  illustra- 
tion, he  says  :  "I  was  walking 
yesterday  with  my  little  giid,  and 
showing  her  plants,  insects,  and  bu-ds 
as  we  walked  along.  "We  were  look- 
ing at  lichens  on  the  trees,  when  she 
suddenly,  and  without  hint  from  me, 
said:  'The  maples  have  different 
lichens  from  the  ash.  I  mean  to  see 
if  I  can  tell  trees  by  their  trunks, 
without  looking  at  their  leaves.'  So 
for  a  long  distance  she  kept  her  eyes 
down,  saying  to  the  trees  as  she 
passed,  '  Elm,  maple,  ash,  pine,'  &c. 
— never  failing.  The  difference  was 
easy  to  see,  but  the  difference  could 
not  have  been  so  well  expressed  in 
words." — Pardee. 

633.  Essay  on  Object-Teaching, 
with  Bible  Illustrations. — "Object- 
teaching"  is  a  new  name  for  an  old 
practice.  It  is  simply  a  method  of 
illustration,  which  addresses  itself 
to  the  eye  as  well  as  to  the  ear. 
The  practice  of  teaching  by  illustra- 
tion is  universal.  There  is  no  such 
thing  as  good  teaching  without  it. 
A    well- chosen    illustration    often 


makes  an  obsciu^e  truth  plain,  and 
it  always  impresses  more  deeply  upon 
the  understanding  and  memory,    a 
truth  which  is  already  familiar.    All 
fables,  allegories,  and  apologues  are 
illustrative  in  their  natui'e.     Of  un- 
inspired illustrations  of  truth.  The 
Pilgrim'' s  Progress,  by  John  Bunyan, 
is  one  of  the  best.     I  need  not  re- 
mind you  that  the  very  best  instances 
of  this  method  of  imparting  instruc- 
tion is  found  in  the  matchless  para- 
bles of  our   Lord,   recorded  in  the 
gospels.     The  use  of  illustration  in 
preaching  is  common.     Some  minis- 
ters are  famous  for  their  power  in 
this  way.     Dr.  Gruthrie,  of  Scotland, 
for  example.     Permit  me  to  quote  a 
sentence  or  two  from  a  sermon  by 
him  on  the  fulness   of  Christ.     He 
says  :  "I  have  found  it  an  interest- 
ing thing  to  stand  on  the  banks  of  a 
noble,  rolling  river,  and  to  think, 
that  although  it  has  been  flowing  on 
for  six  thousand  years,  watering  the 
fields,   and  slaking  the  thirst   of  a 
hundi-ed  generations,    it    shows  no 
sign  of  waste  or  want ;  and  when  I 
have  watched  the  rising  of  the  sun, 
as  he   shot  above  the   crest  of  the 
moimtains,  or  in  a  sky  draped  with 
golden  ciutains  sprang  up  from  his 
ocean  bed,  I  have  wondered  to  think 
that  he  has  melted  the  snows  of  so 
many  winters,  and  renewed  the  ver- 
dui'e  of  so  many  springs,  and  x^ainted 
the  flowers  of  so  many  summers,  and 
ripened  the  golden  harvests   of   so 
many  autumns,    and  yet  shines  as 
brilliant  as  ever;  his  eye  not  dim, 
nor  his  natiu^al  strength  abated,  nor 
his  floods  of  light  less  full  for  cen- 
turies of  boundless  profusion.     Yet 
what   are   these  but  images  of  the 
fulness  that  is  in  Christ  ?     Let  that 
feed  yoiu'  hopes    and    cheer    your 
hearts,  and  brighten  your  faith,  and 
send  you  away  happy  and  rejoicing. 
For    when    Judgment-flames    have 
licked  up  that  flowing  stream,  and 
the  light  of  that  glorious  sun  shall 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WORLD. 


221 


"be  quenclied  in  darkness,  or  yeiled 
in  the  smoke  of  a  burning  world,  the 
fulness  of  Christ  shall  ilow  on 
through  eternity,  in  the  bliss  of  the 
redeemed !  "  "What  power  the  illus- 
ti'ation  here  imparts  to  the  thought ! 
Spurgeon  is  another  shining  example 
of  tliis  fortunate  faculty,  and  Henry 
"Ward  Beecher  is  still  another.  I 
should  be  glad  to  quote  one  or  two 
of  the  peculiarly  felicitous  compari- 
sons,  but  I   must  not  detain  vou. 


The  secret  of  the 


of  a  ffood 


power  v^^  M,  5 
illustration,  it  seems  to  me,  lies  in 
this  :  that  a  figui'e  is  more  easily 
retained  in  the  memory  than  an 
abstract  truth.  It  impresses  the 
imagination.  Some  men  cannot  un- 
derstand abstract  truth.  They  can- 
not grasp  it  until  it  is  presented  to 
theu'  minds  in  a  concrete  form.  Few 
preachers,  if  any,  have  ever  been 
very  successful,  therefore,  in  moving 
the  masses,  who  have  not  possessed 
the  ability  to  illustrate,  clearly  and 
forcibly,  the  abstract  theology.  In 
order  to  succeed  in  preaching  to 
children,  a  talent  for  illustration  is 
indispensable.  The  same  remark 
applies  to  negroes.  I  remember  once 
to  have  been  invited,  in  St.  Charles 
county,  Missouri,  to  visit  a  man  who 
was  dying  of  old  age  (he  was  more 
than  a  hundred  years  old),  and  in 
great  distress  of  mind  lest  he  should 
lose  his  soul.  He  was  a  Christian 
man.  He  had  been,  indeed,  for  many 
years  an  exhorter  in  the  Methodist 
Chiu'ch.  His  master  told  me  that 
his  Chiistian  walk  had  been  unex- 
ceptionable. But  he  was,  when  I 
saw  him,  in  great  spiritual  darkness, 
and  had  been  for  several  days,  if  not 
for  weeks,  and  no  one  had  been  able 
to  relieve  him.  I  sat  down  by  his 
bedside,  and  we  talked  together  for 
some  time  before  I  understood  the 
precise  nature  of  his  difficulty.  At 
last  I  discovered  that  he  did  not 
doubt  that  he  had  been,  and  was  at 
that  moment,  a  Christian ;   but  he 


feared  that  there,  upon  his  death- 
bed, the  devil  would  tempt  him  to 
commit  some  sin,  and  then,  before 
he  could  have  time  to  repent,  he 
would  die,  and,  dying  impenitent,  be 
damned.  You  may  smile  at  this, 
but  you  would  not  have  smiled  to 
see  the  old  man's  agony.  I  tried  in 
vain  to  convince  him  that  Grod  would 
not  suffer  him  to  be  tempted  above 
his  strength,  until  I  thought  of  the 
impossibility  of  teaching  an  unedu- 
cated negro  anything  without  the 
help  of  an  illustration.  So,  as  I  sat 
beside  him,  I  put  my  finger  on  my 
knee  and  said,  "  Look  here,  uncle. 
There  is  yoiu'  soul."  "Now  you're 
a  coming  it,  Massa,"  said  he.  ' '  There 
is  your  soul,  and  here,  upon  this 
side  of  it,  stands  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ."  "  Now  you're  coming  it, 
Massa ! "  "On  the  other  side  stands 
the  devil."  "Now  you're  coming 
it,  Massa!"  "The  devil  wants 
your  soul,  and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
wants  it.  The  two  are  fighting  for 
it."  "NOW  you're  a  coming  it, 
Massa  !  "  "  They  both  want  it,  but 
Jesus  Christ  has  it  in  His  hand,  so  ; 
and  I  want  you  to  tell  me  now, 
which  of  the  two  do  you  think  is 
the  strongest  ?  "  "  Grlory  !  glory  ! 
HALLELUJAH !  "  shouted  the  old 
man,  at  the  top  of  his  voice.  "  Jesus 
Christ,  He  is  the  strongest!  Jesus 
Christ,  He  is  the  strongest !  bless  de 
Lor!  glory,  hallelujah  !  "  "Yes," 
I  said,  ' '  you  must  remember  His 
own  promise  :  '  My  sheep  shall  never 
perish,  neither  shall  any  man  pluck 
them  out  of  My  hand.  My  Father, 
which  gave  them  Me,  is  greater  than 
all;  and  no  man  is  able  to  pluck 
them  out  of  My  Father's  hand.  I 
and  My  Father  are  one.'  "  _When 
the  truth  was  presented  to  him  in  a 
concrete  form,  he  saw  it.  I  never 
met  him  again,  but  I  hope  to  meet 
him  in  heaven.  He  died  a  few  days 
afterward  in  triumph.  Now,  object- 
teaching  differs  fi'om  ordinary  illus- 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WORLD. 


trative  teacliing  only  in  one  particu- 
lar :    it  is   visible  illusti-ation.      In 
object-teaching,  we  summon  the  eye 
to  the  aid  of  the  imagination.     In- 
stead of  alluding  to  an  object  not 
present,  we  bring  the  object  itseK, 
from  which  the  illustration  is  drawn, 
into  the  schoolroom,  and  exhibit  it 
to  our  pupils.     The  introduction  of 
the  object  is  an  event,  and  therefore 
m.ore  easily  remembered  than  a  re- 
mark.    By  showing  it,  the  teacher 
arrests  and  fixes  the  child's  attention, 
and  gives  point  and  definiteness  to 
the  child's  thought.     Instead  of  re- 
quiring him  to  perform  two  mental 
operations — (namely,  first,  to    form 
within  his  mind   an  image  of  the 
absent  object,  and,  then,  to  perceive 
the   resemblance   between  that   and 
the  truth  illustrated  by  it) — we  aid 
his  feeble  powers,  by  making   one 
m.ental     operation     upon    his    part 
sufficient.     All  that  we  ask  of  him 
is  to  see  and  remember  the  point  of 
the  illustration.    In  this  sense,  I  say 
again,    object-teaching    is    nothing 
new.     It  is  as  old  as  the  Pentateuch 
— as  old  as  creation.    "We  often  hear 
the  phrase,    "  word-pictiu'e."      An 
object-lesson  is  a  picture  in  action. 
Every  symbol  and  type  in  the  Old 
Testament  is  an  object-lesson.     The 
sacrifices  of  the  Old  Testament  dis- 
pensation were  object-lessons ;    and 
the  first  sacrifice,  you  remember,  was 
ofiered  in  the  garden  of  Eden.     The 
ofierings  under  the  Mosaic  law — the 
burnt-ofiering,  which  was  a  s^Tubol 
of    self-consecration    to    God ;     the 
meat-ofiering    (imbloody),    and  the 
peace-offering  (bloody),  which  were 
the  expression  of  devout  gratitude ; 
the  sin  and  trespass-offerings,  which 
were  expiatory  in  their  nature — all 
pointed  forward  to  the  sacrifice  of  the 
Messiah,  the  Lamb  slain  from   the 
foundation  of  the  world,  the  Lamb 
of  God  which  taketh  away  the  sin  of 
the  world.      The   Passover  was   an 
object-lesson.     The  Sabbath  was  an 


object-lesson,  reminding  the  Jews, 
by  its  weekly  return,  of  the  funda- 
mental doctrine  of  their  religion ; 
that  the  world  is  not  eternal,  but  had 
a  Creator,  whom  they  and  we  are 
alike  boimd  to  worship.  The  rain- 
bow was  an  object-lesson  —  God's 
object-lesson  in  the  sky.  I  never  see 
it  without  thinking  of  His  promise 
that  the  world  shall  never  again  be 
destroyed  by  a  flood.  The  sacraments 
of  the  iS^ew  Testament  are  object- 
lessons — the  one  setting  forth,  as  it 
does,  the  work  of  Christ,  and  its 
effect  upon  believers ;  the  other  sym- 
bolizing the  work  of  the  Holy  Spiiit. 
We  have  divine  authority  for  object- 
teaching.  It  is  one  of  God's  own 
methods  of  instruction,  as  we  shall 
see  even  more  clearly  if  we  open  the 
prophecies.  When  Ezekiel  desired 
to  impress  upon  the  captive  Jews  in 
Mesopotamia  the  fact  of  the  ap- 
proaching destruction  of  Jerusalem, 
acting  under  the  influence  of  Divine 
inspiration,  he  took  a  clay-tile,  and 
drew  upon  it  a  picture  of  the  doomed 
city,  then  laid  siege  to  it,  built  a 
fort  against  it,  arrayed  against  it 
a  camp,  and  a  mound,  and  battering 
rams ;  and  to  show  the  miserable 
condition  to  which  the  besieged  in- 
habitants should  be  reduced,  he  him- 
self lived  for  more  than  a  year  upon 
a  daily  allowance  of  bread  and  water. 
To  indicate  their  ultimate  fate,  he 
cut  oft'  all  his  hair  and  beard,  divided 
it  by  weight  into  thi-ee  equal  parts, 
and  burned  one  part,  another  part 
he  chopped  in  pieces  with  a  razor, 
and  the  remainder  he  scattered  in  the 
wind.  The  part  which  was  burned, 
represented  those  who  should  be  con- 
sumed by  pestilence  and  famine ; 
that  which  was  chopped  with  a  knife, 
represented  those  who  should  fall  by 
the  sword  ;  and  that  which  was  scat- 
tered in  the  wind,  those  who  should 
be  dispersed  through  all  lands.  The 
whole  constituted  an  inspired  object- 
lesson.   You  may  read  a  fuU  account 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WORLD. 


223 


of  it  in  tlie  fourth  and  fifth  chapters 
of  Ezekiel.  Yon  will  hnd  the  account 
of  another  sjonbolic  action  by  the 
same  prophet,  in  the  twelfth  chap- 
ter ;  and  of  still  another,  by  the 
prophet  Jeremiah,  in  the  thirteenth 
chapter  of  Jeremiah.  Many  of  the 
parables  of  Christwere  object-lessons ; 
that  of  the  sower  who  went  forth  to 
sow,  for  instance.  Chiist  taught  the 
disciples  an  object-lesson  when  He 
called  for  a  penny  (Luke  xx.  24), 
and  made  the  image  of  Ca3sar,  stamped 
upon  it,  the  text  of  a  discourse  upon 
the  duty  of  loyalty  to  lawful  autho- 
rity, human  and  divine.  Object- 
teaching,  then,  is  symbolic  teaching ; 
teaching  hy  emblems.  The  ceremonies 
of  secret  fraternities,  and  the  ritual 
of  the  Eomish  Chiuxh,  are  modern 
instances  of  the  emplojTuent  of  this 
method  of  instruction.  Here,  upon 
this  table  before  me,*  is  a  basin 
filled  with  water,  and  a  large  car- 
riage-sponge Ijing  beside  it.  (Taking 
up  the  sponge.)  This  reminds  me  of 
a  saying  which  I  have  somewhere 
read,  that  covetous  men  are  like 
sponges.  (Here  the  speaker  dipped 
the  sponge  in  the  basin. )  They  drink 
up  water  greedily  (the  sponge,  satu- 
rated with  water,  and  dripping  pro- 
fusely, was  now  held  up  before  the 
audience),  but  return  very  little 
(suiting  the  action  to  the  word)  until 
they  are  squeezed.  (Loud  and  gene- 
ral laughter.)  This  is  an  object- 
lesson.  You  will  never  forget  that 
saying.  You  cannot.  But,  might 
you  not  have  forgotten  it,  had  you 
simply  heard  it 't  You  may  judge 
from  the  effect  of  the  sight  of  the 
water  and  the  sponge,  upon  your- 
selves, what  the  effect  of  good  object- 
teaching  is  upon  children.  You  see 
this  piece  of  blotting-paper.  It  is, 
you   observe,  of  a  dull  red   colour. 

*  This  article  was  first  given  in  the 
form  of  an  address  before  an  Institute, 
and  hence  the  form  of  this  and  some 
other  paragraphs. 


What  is  the  secret  of  that  colour? 
There  is  a  lesson  for  us  in  it.  When 
rags  are  manufactured  into  paper, 
they  are  ordinarily  bleached  before 
being  reduced  to  a  pulp.  But  this 
red  blotting-paper,  it  is  said,  is  made 
of  rags  which  cannot  be  bleached — 
rags  dyed  with  what  is  known  as 
Turkey  red,  and  this  dye  is  the  very 
same  which  in  Scripture  is  called 
scarlet,  in  the  precious  promise, 
"  Though  your  sins  be  as  scarlet, 
they  shall  be  white  as  snow."  Can 
you  ever,  henceforth,  see  a  piece  of 
blotting-paper  without  thinking  of 
that  promise,  and  repeating  to  your- 
self the  Savioui"'s  words,  "The things 
which  are  impossible  with  men  are 
possible  with  Grod."  I  hold  in  my 
hand  a  photograph.  You  would  not 
value  it ;  but  nothing  would  induce 
me,  if  I  could  not  replace  it,  to  part 
with  it.  It  is  the  likeness  of  mj- 
aged  mother.  As  I  look  at  it,  I  think 
of  the  way  in  which  the  Saviour's 
image  is  formed  within  the  heart  of 
a  believer.  The  paper  which  bears 
the  image  of  my  mother  was  blank 
before  she  sat  for  her  likeness,  and 
to  produce  it,  it  was  necessary  that 
she  and  the  paper  should  be  brought 
face  to  face.  We  shall  never  bear 
the  image  of  Christ,  dear  friends,  if 
we  do  not  look  to  Him,  or  if  we  look 
to  Him  with  pre-occupied  hearts. 
And  then  it  was  further  necessary  that 
the  paper  should  be  prepared,  by  the 
action  of  certain  chemicals,  to  receive 
the  impress  of  her  countenance.  So 
must  our  hearts  be  rendered  sensitive 
by  the  Holy  Spirit  before  the  linea- 
ments of  the  Redeemer's  character 
can  be  reproduced  in  us.  Again,  if 
the  prepared  paper  has  been  prema- 
tui'ely  withdi'aTVTi  from  the  artist's 
camera,  what  then  ?  It  is  the  fixed 
contemplation  of  Christ,  not  an  occa- 
sional glance  towards  Him,  which 
makes  us  like  Him.  Finally,  let  us 
never  forget,  that  as  this  bit  of  paste- 
board, worthless  in  itself,  derives  all 


224 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL    WORLD. 


its  value, — its  inestimable  value, — 
from  the  dear  featiu-es  which  it  bears 
stamped  upon  it,  so  are  we  who 
believe,  dear  to  God,  not  because 
there  is  anything  in  us  to  merit  His 
approbation,  but  because  we  bear  the 
image  of  Chiist,  and  dear  to  Him  in 
proportion  to  the  excellence  of  that 
image.  Let  this  thought  stimulate 
us  to  more  earnest  eifort  to  be  like 
Christ.  Since  object-teaching  is  so 
impressive,  it  is  of  the  utmost  im- 
portance that  we  be  upon  our  guard 
against  teaching  error,  when  we  in- 
tend to  teach  ti'uth,  as  Zedekiah,  the 
son  of  Chenanah  did,  when  he  made 
him  horns  of  iron,  and  said  to  Ahab 
and  Jehosaphat,  at  the  time  of  their 
wicked  alliance  against  Syria,  "Thus 
saith  the  Lord,  With  these  shalt 
thou  push  the  Syrians,  until  thou 
have  consumed  them  I "  thus  pushing 
forward  the  king  of  Jiidah  to  his 
own  destruction. — Rev.  F.  H.  Wines. 

634.  Object  Material  for  Infant - 
classes  indespensable. — It  is  indis- 
pensably necessary  in  an  Infant-class 
to  have  plenty  of  objects.  Every 
good  mother  and  good  juvenile  class- 
teacher  will  make  great  use  of  the 
eye,  and  action,  and  motion,  to  teach 
and  impress  the  great  truths  of  the 
lessons  upon  the  little  ones.  Use  the 
eye  more,  and  make  your  words  few 
and  well  chosen.  "  Present  to  the 
children  things  before  words,  or  ideas 
before  7iames.^^  Even  in  manners 
and  morals  let  the  person,  life,  and 
tongue  of  the  teacher  be  the  "ob- 
ject." "She  openeth  her  mouth 
with  wisdom,  and  in  her  tongue  is 
the  law  of  kindness."  Here  is  an 
art  that  every  teacher  should  become 
facile  in,  i.e.,  searching  out  and  using 
objects  that  will  serve  the  pm^pose  in 
teaching  ;  and,  for  this  reason,  he 
should  always  wear  his  "  Sunday- 
school  spectacles."  A  sprig  of  ever- 
green, or  a  bit  of  vine  picked  from 
the  bush  as  we  pass  our  garden-gate 


for  the  Sunday-school,  may  serve  to 
illustrate  the  duty  of  "abiding  in 
Christ,"  as  the  branch  must  abide  in 
the  vine.  A  little  flower,  or  grass^ 
or  a  falling  leaf,  will  illusti^ate, 
through  the  eye,  the  brevity  of  life, 
and  that  "we  all  do  fade  as  a  leaf. 
Even  a  pin  may  be  used  as  an  object, 
from  whence  to  draw  lessons  as  to 
the  value,  use,  and  importance  of 
little  things.  When  the  pin  is  crooked 
and  rendered  useless,  we  can,  with 
it,  rebuke  crooked  tempers,  or  crooked 
tongues,  or  characters.  A  child  may 
be  led  to  see  "the  whole  armoiu^  of 
Grod  "  in  a  picture  of  an  old  knight 
with  his  "hehnet,"  "shield," 
"breastplate,"  and  "sword."  A 
plaster  cast  of  2^  faithful  dog,  loving 
doves,  little  Samuel  in  prayer,  or 
David  with  his  shepherd's  staff,  have 
aU  been  frequently  used  to  teach 
divine  lessons.  A  specimen  of  good 
fruit  will  teach  us  to  bring  forth 
good  fruit — to  be  fruit-bearers ;  and 
the  showing  of  a  watch  may  be  made 
the  means  of  much  valuable  instruc- 
tion to  children.  But  we  must 
sum  up  some  of  the  leading  things 
which  may  be  used  in  Sunday-school 
object-teaching,  viz. :  — 

1.  Natural  objects. 

2.  Texts,  cards,  &c. 

3.  Maps,  charts,  &c. 

4.  Pictures  and  drawings. 

5.  Word-painting,  or  pictorial- 
teaching  by  aid  of  the  imagination. 

6.  Parables,  parallels,  &c. 

7.  Portable  slates  and  paper. 

8.  The  black-board,  which  fur- 
nishes ample  facilities  for  object- 
teaching. — Tar  dee. 

635.  Teaching  by  the  Eye. — 
I  venture  to  recommend  to  the  ear- 
nest consideration  of  superintendents 
and  teachers  what  he  says  on  the 
subject  of  black-board,  picture,  and 
object-teaching.  I  have  long  been 
impressed  with  the  conviction  that 
among  younger  children,  and  espe- 


SU>T)AY    SCHOOL   "SVORLD. 


225 


cially  in  mission-schools,  we  do  not 
appeal  to  and  make  nse  of  the  eye  as 
"WQ  might  and  should.  Doubtless, 
there  are  dangers  which  we  require 
to  he  on  our  guard  against.  The 
hlack-board  and  picture  may  he 
oyerdone,  and  degenerate  into  what 
is  unprofitable  and  unworthy  to  be 
called  religious  teaching,  or,  indeed, 
teachinrj  at  all.  At  the  same  time, 
the  impressions  made  through  the 
eye  in  early  life  are  so  yiyid  and 
lasting,  that  to  make  little  or  no 
nse  of  ''  Eye-gate,"  is  to  leaye  to  the 
enemy  one  of  the  most  direct  and 
important  approaches  to  the  town  of 
Mansoul,  while  resorting  to  a  much 
more  circuitous  route  ourselyes.  An 
intelligent  teacher,  in  a  large  infant 
Sabbath-class,  told  me  lately  that 
she  taught  the  lesson  of  the  day  with 
the  pictiu'e  in  her  hand,  turned  the 
back  of  it  towards  the  children,  read 
off  from  it  as  she  told  her  story,  and 
only  held  it  up  to  the  yiew  of  the 
scholars  at  the  close.  In  this  way 
their  attention  was  kept  up  to  the 
close  without  eyer  liagging,  and  the 
teaching  was  rendered  interesting, 
instructiye,  and  attractiye  in  an  un- 
usual degree.  Haying  occasion  to 
yisit  the  school  one  eyening,  just  as 
it  was  getting  dark,  I  foimd  a  mo-  \ 
ther  in  search  of  her  child,  a  mere 
infant.  The  little  one  was  at  length 
discoyered  in  a  comer  of  the  play- 
ground, and  when  laid  hold  of  by 
the  mother,  I  shall  not  soon  forget 
the  expression  of  delight  with  which 
he  looked  up,  as  if  absorbed  with  the 
pleasant  remembrance,  and  said, 
''  Eh,  mother,— ^/<t>  Picture r—Bev. 
J.  H.  Wilson,  JI.A.,  Edinburgh. 

636.  Attractive  Power  of  Ob- 
jects, &c. — Adults  will  look  at  an 
illustrated  paper  before  they  will  at 
an  unillustrated  one,  and  an  article,  | 
with  the  yerbal  and  the  pictru-e  de- 
scription   combiaed,  is  always  pre- 


ferred. So  and  much  more  with 
children.  An  engraying  or  picture, 
whether  plain  or  coloured,  whose 
chief  characters  or  outlines  can  be 
plainly  caught  by  the  class,  will 
proye  seryiceable.  Sets  of  most 
beautiful,  large-size,  coloured  litho- 
graphs, illustratiye  of  many  of  the 
historical  and  narratiye  eyents  of  the 
Old  and  Xew  Testament,  are  ob- 
tainable at  almost  any  of  the  larger 
bookstores.  The  grayest  objection 
to  these  large- size  pictures  is  their 
price,  and  the  fact  that  they  are  dis- 
posed of  only  in  sets,  two  things 
which  make  their  sale  and  use 
limited.  An  illustration  of  the 
manner  of  using  one  of  these  litho- 
graphs is  giyen  in  the  department  of 
specimen  lessons,  under  the  heading 
of  ''  The  Grood  Samaritan.''  As  to 
objects  they  should  not  be  produced 
in  the  sight  of  a  class  till  they  are 
absolutely  needed  in  elucidating  or 
fastening  a  thought.  We  once  heard 
a  teacher  speaking  of  the  number, 
size,  and  kinds  of  gods  worshipped  by 
the  heathen.  "  Some  of  these  gods," 
said  he,  "  are  small,  indeed  so  small 
that  a  man  might  carry  a  quart  of 
them  in  his  pocket,  and  not  feel  the 
weight  much.  I  haye  seen  some  not 
so  big  as  a  boy's  penknife.  They 
were  made  of  a  kind  of  clay,  and 
put  into  the  tire,  and  burned  till 
quite  hard.  Do  you  see  this  r" — 
taking  an  image  three  inches  long 
from  his  yest  pocket — "this  is  one 
of  the  little  gods  of  the  poor  people 
in  China.  The  boys  and  girls  and 
the  grown-up  men  and  women  pray 
to  such  as  it  is.  Could  a  god  of  this 
kind  hear  or  help  anybody  ?  "Would 
you  like  to  pray  to  a  penknife  ?  It 
would  be  no  worse  for  the  heathen 
people  to  pray  to  a  penknife  than  to 
pray  to  such  a  little  piece  of  help- 
less' burnt  clay  as  this."  In  this 
case,  the  image,  if  it  had  been  pro- 
duced before  anything  had  been 
said  about  the    gods  of  the  hea- 


226 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WORLD. 


then,  would  have  lost  that  novelty 
which  helped  to  vivify  the  truth 
spoken.  It  was  reserved  to  a  time 
when  the  attention  of  the  class,  if 
there  had  been  any  disposition  to 
flag-,  was  readily  kindled  to  a  high 
pitch. — House. 

637.  Secimng  Attention.  —  As 
a  teacher  of  one  of  the  elementary 
classes,  you  well  know  the  difficulties 
of  obtaining  and  securing  the  atten- 
tion of  your  scholars,  and  of  impart- 
ing to  them  suitable  instruction ; 
but,  from  the  foregoing  observations, 
you  must  be  satislied  that  Scripture 
prints  will  materially  assist  your 
efforts,  and  supply  an  efficient  mode 
of  interesting  and  instructing  little 
children;  that  these  valuable  auxilia- 
ries to  religious  instruction  may  be 
readily  procured  ;  and  that  with 
them  you  may  profitably  engage  the 
mind,  inform  the  understanding,  and 
powerfully  impress  the  memory  of 
those  who  are  entrusted  to  your  care. 
Give  the  whole  subject,  therefore, 
your  serious  and  immediate  atten- 
tion ;  study  pictures  and  prints,  as 
you  study  books,  in  order  that  you 
may  draw  from  them  that  instruc- 
tion which  they  vdM  most  certainly 
afford.  Encourage  each  child,  sepa- 
rately, to  ask  questions  upon  the 
print  which  was  exhibited ;  and  let 
the  replies  given  to  these  questions 
be,  as  much  as  possible,  the  opinions 
of  the  scholars.  A  hint  from  you 
will  often  be  sufficient  to  suggest  the 
required  answer.  Never  promise 
prints  to  enforce  obedience,  nor  use 
them  merely  to  procure  attention ; 
either  course  is  as  unwise  as  it  is 
degrading ;  but  employ  them  to 
awaken  interest  in  the  careless  and 
depraved  ;  use  them  with  judgment, 
resort  to  them  to  overcome  difficul- 
ties, and  always  make  them  subser- 
vient to  the  great  ends  which  your 
instructions  are  designed  to  accom- 
plish.—  Collins. 


638.  Well-selected  Scripture 

prints,  Bible  stories,  stories  of  every- 
day liife,  will  be  required  to  attract, 
instruct,  and  train  the  child.  An 
ear  of  corn  plucked  from  the  field,  a 
daisy  from  the  roadside — anything, 
however  insignificant  in  itself,  can, 
by  a  little  ingenuity,  be  made  the 
medium  of  interest  and  instruction. 
A  teacher  of  infants  should  never 
meet  his  class  without  some  visible 
illustration  to  draw  upon  if  required. 
Singing  should  form  an  important 
part  of  the  work  of  an  Infant-school. 
Children  feel  far  more  pleasure  in 
singing  than  in  any  other  exercise  of 
the  school.  The  praises  and  prayers 
of  the  Infant-school  should  be  short, 
simple,  and  suited  to  the  comprehen- 
sion of  children.  Teach  them  to 
understand  and  commit  to  memory 
a  few  short  prayers,  to  be  repeated 
in  consort  with  the  teacher. — R. 
Ilagill. 

639.  Bible  Objects.— The  pages 
of  inspiration  are  thickly  strewn 
with  types,  taken  from  both  the 
natural  and  artificial  kingdoms  of 
the  world,  which  represent  the  most 
solemn  and  important  truths.  Often 
within  some  inanimate  object  is 
hidden  an  illustration  of  wondrous 
beauty  and  power.  The  true  pur- 
pose of  teaching  by  objects,  in  the^ 
Sunday-school,  would  then  seem  to 
be  to  unveil  to  the  pupil  their  pro- 
perties and  features,  and  thus  reveal 
the  divine  thought  in  the  passage 
under  consideration.  And  when  it 
is  remembered  that  our  Lord  Him- 
self is  frequently  represented  under 
the  semblance  of  inanimate  things, 
the  most  careful  and  reverent  man- 
ner should  exist  in  the  study  of  those 
objects  which  are  thus  used  in  con- 
veying religious  truths.  It  is  not, 
of  course,  expected  that  a  strictly 
uniform  method  of  preparation  will 
be  adopted  in  this  or  any  other  de- 
partment of    teaching,     but  a   few 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


227 


general  rules  as  to  the  adaptation  of 
the  oljject  to  the  lesson  may  not  be 
without  benefit.  It  is,  therefore, 
suggested : — 

1.  Ascertain,  by  use  of  Concord- 
ance, in  what  other  places  and  ways 
the  same  object  is  used,  and  draw 
therefrom  such  suggestions  as  may 
be  pertinent  to  the  lesson  in  hand. 

2.  Carefully  analyse  the  object, 
discovering  its  various  properties 
and  uses.  Eor  example,  a  rock  is 
hard,  compact,  firm,  solid.  It  hence 
has  strength,  is  enduring,  is  moved 
with  difficulty,  and  is  suitable  for  a 
foundation.  Its  shadow  affords  a 
grateful  shade  in  summer,  and  in  its 
crevices  shelter  may  be  found  from 
the  storm. 

3.  Draw  the  analogy  between  the 
object  and  the  truth  in  the  lesson. 
Taking  up  the  emblem  above  re- 
ferred to,  we  find  our  blessed  Lord 
spoken  of  as  our  "rock,"  and  "re- 
fuge," our  "only  foundation,"  sure 
against  all  storms,  and  as  "  the 
shadow  of  a  great  rock  in  a  diy  and 
thirsty  land."  The  analogy  in  this 
instance  is  readily  traced;  but  in 
others  it  requires  more  thoughtful 
examination.  For  example,  in  the 
Apostle's  expression,  "  the  exceeding 
riches  of  His  (God's)  grace,"  the 
object  referred  to  would  be  a  coin, 
the  emblem  of  wealth.  The  teacher 
would  be  required  to  show  why  the 
coinage  of  the  nation  is  so  regarded, 
and  in  what  worldly  wealth  consists, 
of  which  it  is  the  type.  Also,  in 
what  particulars  the  things  of  God's 
special  grace,  both  temporarily  and 
spiritually,  exceed  the  value  of  ma- 
terial possessions.  It  will  be  seen 
that  in  the  latter  instance  particular 
care  will  be  necessary,  both  in  ana- 
lysis and  comparison,  to  render  the 
exercise  clear  and  effective. 

4.  An  inference  of  much  force 
may  be  drawn  from  the  contempla- 
tion of  an  inanimate  object.  For 
example,  the  sun   is  the  source  of 


light  and  heat  for  the  world,  yet  is 
unfeeling,  has  no  heat  or  life  of  its 
own,  no  will,  no  reason,  no  affection. 
How  great  is  the  light  and  warmth 
and  love  which  must  come  from  that 
God  who  is  called  "a  sun,"  with 
His  infinite  heart  of  tenderness, 
sympathy,  and  love  ;  a  will  of  su- 
preme kindness  ;  and  who  reasons 
only  in.  mercy  and  forbearance  to- 
ward us. 

5.  Never  attempt  the  use  of  an 
object  unless  it  is  either  named  in 
the  lesson  or  directly  and  clearly  im- 
plied. Do  not  sacrifice  pertinency 
and  adaptation  to  a  mere  desire  to 
teach  in  this  way.  Appropriateness 
must  not  be  sacrificed  to  either 
novelty  of  style  or  pleasure  in  pre- 
senting the  lesson. 

6.  If  practicable,  obtain  the  ob- 
ject itself  for  use  in  the  class.  If 
not,  a  rough  model  of  wood  or  other 
material  will  be  preferable  to  a 
picture. 

7.  Cultivate  the  habit  of  reading 
the  Bible  with  reference  to  this  par- 
ticular form  of  teaching.  This  will 
familiarise  you  with  the  study  and 
contemplation  of  objects,  and  afford 
frequent  incidental  aid  in  the  prepa- 
ration of  the  lesson. 

In  giving  lessons  in  secular  schools, 
of  course  greater  detail  must  be  had 
as  to  the  form,  size,  colour,  &c.,  of 
objects ;  but,  while  all  this  is  weU  in 
Scripture  teaching,  in  informing  and 
interesting  the  mind,  and  holding 
the  attention,  it  should  be  remem- 
bered that  here  the  chief  piu'pose  is 
to  dwell  upon  such  characteristics 
only  as  will  convey  religious  truths. 
Lastly,  let  us  cultivate  the  habit  of 
grateful  admii'ation  and  appreciation 
of  creative  power  in  the  world 
around  us.  The  Psalmist  says,  with 
comprehensive  simplicity,  "ALL  Thy 
works  praise  Thee,  0  Lord ;"  and, 
as  by  Divine  help,  we  are  enabled 
more  and  more  clearly  to  unfold  the 
truths  of  this  great  book  of  physical 


228 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WORLD. 


life,  we  shall  realise,  with  adoring 
wonder,  a  greater  and  more  blessed 
sense  of  the  Almighty  beneficence 
and  goodness. — James  H,  Kellogg. 


640. 


The     lion     prowling 


about  in  search  of  his  prey;  the  in- 
nocent lamb,  the  cunning  serpent; 
the  ant  laying  in  its  stores  for  win- 
ter days;"^  the  bee  sucking  honey 
from  every  flower,  humming  while 
in  motion,  and  quiet  while  at  work  ; 
the  spider  with  its  manifold  cord, 
and  the  daisy  with  its  upturned 
face  ;  the  corn  which  groweth  up, 
first  the  blade,  then  the  ear,  and 
then  the  full  corn  in  the  ear;  the 
flower  which  cometh  forth  in  the 
morning,  and  in  the  evening  is  cut 
down;  the  sun  which  shines  alike 
upon  the  evil  and  the  good — these 
and  a  thousand  other  natural  objects 
may  be  suitably  employed  in  the 
illustration  of  the  truth  of  God's 
blessed  Word. 

641.  Object- Teaching  an  Old 
Method.  —  Adam  learned  natural 
history  by  object-teaching.  [Abra- 
ham learned  by  picture-teaching 
when  he  saw  visions,  and  by  a  dra- 
matic object  lesson,  when  he  ofiered 
Isaac,  the  type  of  Christ.  Jacob  in 
an  actual  phj^sical  struggle  was 
taught,  for  his  own  benefit  and  that 
of  the  world,  the  value  of  spiritual 
wrestling.  It  was  an  object-lesson. 
The  law  of  Moses  and  the  Levitical 
ritual  were  a  perpetual  series  of 
object-lessons.  Micah  taught  Ahab 
by  a  dramatic  object-lesson.  Ezekiel 
was  "  a  sign,"  an  object-lesson  to 
the  Jews.  The  -sdsions  of  Isaiah 
were  instructions  by  means  of  men- 
ial 2i^cture-teaching.  So  was  the 
valley  of  dry  bones,  and  other  visions 
of  Ezekiel.  The  prophecies  are  full 
of  them.  Jonah's  gourd  was  an  ob- 
ject-lesson. The  very  dress  of  John 
the  Baptist  was  an  object-lesson.  In 
his  sermons  he  used  the  "stones" 


and  "trees"  that  were  about  him 
as  object  and  picture-lessons.  Christ 
was  Himself  the  greatest  of  object 
and  picture  teachers.  And  if  we  go 
to  Greece  we  find  Socrates  master 
of  the  "  Art  of  Questioning,"  and 
of  every  other  approved  method 
of  teaching.  These  are  not  "new 
fangled  notions,"  but  as  old  as  any 
correct  teaching. — American. 

642,  Objects  and  Illustrations. 
— The  simple  difference  between  ob- 
ject-teaching and  illustrative  teach- 
ing is  this :  If  you  were  teaching  on 
the  words,  "  Though  your  sins  be 
red  like  crimson,  they  shall  be  as 
wool,"  in  illustrative  teaching,  we 
should  tell  the  children  that  the 
Turkey-red  dyes  are  so  firm  that  no 
bleacher's  salts  will  make  them 
white,  and,  therefore,  we  make  the 
Turkey-red  rags  into  pink  blotting- 
paper  ;  in  o&;'ee^-teaching,  we  hold 
up  the  Turkey-red  calico,  explain 
it,  and  then  shoio  the  pink  blotting- 
paper — making  it,  by  help  of  the 
two  objects  and  the  explanation, 
more  impresive  with  children.  In 
fact,  there  are  lessons  which  cannot 
be  plainly  taught  without  the  use  of 
objects.  They  need,  however,  to  be 
used  with  discretion ;  and  in  the 
Bible  lessons  only  where  they  "wiR 
make  the  truths  better  understood. — 
Pardee. 

643,  Examples  of  Object  Teach- 
ing,— Trying  to  explain  to  a  coloured 
man  how  we  wanted  some  gardening 
done,  he  said,  "Hold  on!  hold  on 
till  I  get  the  hoe  so  you  can  show 
me  by  my  eyes."  That  is  just  what 
pupils  in  the  Sunday-school  and 
elsewhere  want — teaching  by  the 
eje.  "  How  did  you  give  your  talk 
on  Stephen's  death  to  your  cliildren 
last  Sunday?"  we  asked  of  the  su- 
perintendent of  one  of  our  best  city 
church  schools.  "  I  went  out  and 
got  a  formidable  stone  which  I  kept 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


229 


in  siglit  diiring;  the  whole  talk.     I 
had  theu'  attention  to  the  end." 


644. 


The  Rev.  James  Ing-lis 


gives  the  following  example  of  how 
Bible  truth  may  be  presented  to  the 
minds  of  children  in  an  attractive 
and  impressive  manner — "  Taking 
his  watch  ont  of  his  pocket,  the 
teacher  addressed  the  children  thus : 
Suppose  my  watch  were  not  going 
well,  would  it  do  any  good  were  I 
to  go  to  the  town  clock  and  take  out 
my  key,  and  make  the  hands  of  the 
watch  to  point  the  same  as  those  of 
the  clock  ?  You  know  this  would 
do  no  good,  for  the  hands  will  soon 
be  as  wrong  as  ever.  I  must  send 
my  watch  to  the  watchmaker,  that 
he  jRQj  put  its  heart  right,  and  then 
the  hands  will  go  right  too.  So  it 
is  with  you,  children.  You  must 
first  get  your  heart  put  right,  then 
your  hands  will  go  right,  and  your 
feet  and  all  will  go  right." 


645. 


I  once  saw  a  preacher 


trying  to  teach  a  number  of  chil- 
dren that  the  soul  loould  live  after 
they  ivere  dead.  They  listened,  but 
evidently  did  not  understand  it.  He 
was  too  abstract.  Snatching  his 
watch  from  his  pocket,  he  says, 
*'  James,  what  is  this  I  hold  in 
my  hand?"  "A  watch,  Sir;" 
''  A  little  clock,"  says  another. 
''  Do  you  all  see  it  ?"  "  Yes,  Sir." 
"  How  do  you  know  it  is  a  watch  ?" 
"It  ticks.  Sir."  "  Yery  well,  can 
any  of  you  hear  it  tick  ?  All  listen 
now."  After  a  pause — "  Yes,  Sir, 
we  hear  it."  He  then  took  off  the 
case,  and  held  the  case  in  one  hand, 
and  the  watch  in  the  other.  ' '  Now, 
children,  which  is  the  watch  ?  You 
see  there  are  two  which  look  like 
watches?"  "The  littlest  one,  in 
your  right  hand.  Sir."  "  Yery  well, 
but  how  do  you  know  that  this  is 
the  watch?"  "Because  it  ticks." 
"  Yery  well  again;  now  I  will  lay 


the  case  aside  ;  put  it  away  there, 
down  in  my  hat.  Now,  let  us  see  if 
you  can  hear  the  watch  tick."  ' '  Yes, 
Sir,  we  hear  it!"  exclaimed  several 
voices.  "  Well,  the  watch  can  tick, 
and  go,  and  keep  time  you  see,  when 
the  case  is  taken  off  and  put  away 
in  my  hat.  The  watch  goes  just  as 
well.  So  it  is  with  you,  chlldi-en. 
Your  body  is  nothing  but  the  case ; 
the  soul  is  inside.  The  case,  the 
bodj",  may  be  taken  off  and  buried 
up  in  the  ground,  and  the  soul  will 
live  and  think,  just  as  well  as  this 
watch  will  go,  as  you  see,  when  the 
case  is  off." — Todd. 


646. 


Hartley,  in  his  "  Pic- 


torial Teaching,"  gives  an  amusing 
example  of  confounding  truth  with 
its  illustration.  "  A  teacher  was 
one  day  explaining  to  a  class  of  girls 
the  nature  of  faith,  and  by  way  of 
illustration  pointed  through  the  win- 
dow to  a  boat  which  could  be  seen 
upon  the  river.  '  Look,'  said  the 
teacher,  '  at  that  boat.  You  can  see 
it,  can  you  not?'  'Yes,'  said  the 
scholars.  '  Well,  if  I  were  to  tell 
you  that  there  was  a  mutton  pie  in 
the  boat,  under  the  seat,  would  you 
believe  me?'  'Yes,  certainly  we 
should,'  they  replied.  '  Well,'  said 
the  teacher,  '  that  is  faith.'  A  short 
time  afterwards  the  teacher  was 
again  talking  to  the  children  on  a 
similar  subject,  and  asking  the 
question,  '  What  is  faith  ? '  was 
astonished  to  hear  the  reply,  '  Faith, 
teacher,  is  a  mutton  pie  in  a  boat.'  " 


OBJECT  LESSONS. 

647.  I.  1.  Object,  a  Leaf. 

Children,  what  do  I  hold  in  my  hand  ? 
A  leaf.  What  can  you  teU  me  about 
it  ?  One  says  it  has  form  ;  others, 
colour,  substance,  length,  breadth, 
thickness^  branches  in  its  frame  like 


230 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WOKLD. 


the  tree,  all  different,  &c.  &c.  What 
is  a  leaf  ?  The  clothing  of  trees 
(G-en.  viii.  11).  2.  What  does  the 
Bible  say  about  a  leaf  or  leaves  ? 
Shall  not  wither  (Ps.  i.  3) ;  be 
green  (Jer.  x^di.  8) ;  not  fade  (Ezek. 
xlvii.  12) ;  fadeth  (Isa.  i.  30) ;  sewed 
fig-leaves  (G-en.  iii.  7) ;  cast  their 
leaves  (Isa.  vi.  13) ;  fair  (Dan.  iv. 
12,  21);  nothing  but  leaves'  (Mark 
xi.  13) ;  putteth  forth  leaves  (Mark 
xiii.  28).  Enlarge  and  illustrate  any 
points.  3.  See  Rev.  xxii.  2:  "And 
the  leaves  of  the  tree  were  for  the 
healing  of  the  nations."  See  had, 
poisonous  leaves.  Upas-tree,  poison- 
ivy,  &c.  See  good  leaves.  Sassafras, 
balsam,  wintergreen,  &c.  The  leaves 
of  the  Bible  are  for  the  healing  of 
the  nations,  &c.  Corrupt  leaves,  or 
bad  books,  blight  and  destroy. 

648.   II.  Object,  aGrape- 

vine,  with  cluster  of  fruit.  Cut 
branch  will  not  unite  again  with  the 
vine.  Prune  so  as  to  produce  fruit, 
otherwise  will  run  to  leaves.  Taste 
of  good  fruit.  See  fruits  of  the 
Spirit  (Gal.  v.  22) — love,  joy,  peace, 
&c.     How  bear  such,  &c. 

649.   III.    Object,    a   Pin. 

Sharp,  straight,  and  shining.  How 
many  for  a  penny  ?  Thirty  persons 
to  make  it.  So  little  and  cheap,  not 
valued.  So  of  common  blessings — 
air,  light,  water.  Feel  your  pulse. 
Not  live  without  it.  So  learn  to 
value  little  things.  See  its  value  in 
need,  as  in  storms,  cold,  &c.  So 
value  Bible,  health,  school,  church, 
&c.,  while  you  have  them.  Bend  it, 
and  it  becomes  crooked.  So  crooked 
tempers,  tongues,  &c. 


650. 


IV.  A  Sjirig  of  Ever- 


green, broken  off,  may  teach  us  to 
abide  in  Christ. 


651. 


Y.   Salt,  as    a  grand 


652.  YI.  Flowers,  so  beau- 
tiful and  frail.  A  pansy  may  teach 
humility ;  a  daisy,  cheerfidness ;  a 
rose,  goodness  and  virtue ;  a  lily, 
purity,  &c. — Pardee. 


preservative.     A  Potten  Apple,  in- 
fluence and  decay. 


PIOTOEIAL  TEACHING. 

653.  Definition, — Pictorial  teach- 
ing is  only  a  slightly  different  form 
of  Bible  illustration,  and  therefore 
will  appropriatelj^  follow  the  previous 
subject.  It  presents,  first,  pictures 
and  maps  to  the  pupils  for  examina- 
tion, in  order  that  they  may  get  a 
clearer  view  of  truth.  It  consists, 
secondly,  more'  particularly  in  pic- 
turing out  in  words,  or  in  vivid, 
graphic  description,  so  that  the  truth 
will  appear  real  to  the  imagination 
of  -the  child.  It  awakens  interest 
and  deepens  impression,  and  all  good 
teachers  avail  themselves,  more  or 
less,  of  its  power. — Pardee. 

654.  Bunyan's  Pictorial  Teach- 
ing. —  The  immortal  Bunyan  has 
done  more  to  justify  and  enforce  this 
method  of  teaching  than  any  man 
who  ever  lived,  and  in  the  inimitable 
allegory  of  the  "  Pilgrim's  Progress" 
he  has  at  once  instructed  the  young 
and  taught  their  teachers  how  to 
teach.  This  incomparable  book  has 
proved  John  Bunyan  to  be  one  of 
the  greatest  descriptive  painters, 
being  full  of  pictures  of  the  most 
beautiful  order.  It  is  always  a 
favourite  with  children,  and  needs 
no  coloured  prints  to  recommend  it 
to  their  notice,  every  sentence  being 
a  pictiu-e  in  itself.  Sunday-school 
teachers  may  study  with  great  ad- 
vantage, both  to  themselves  and  their 
scholars,  the  simple  and  yet  forcible 
style  of  the  illustrious  dreamer ;  and 
they  will  find  that  many  of  the  scenes 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WORLD. 


231 


in  his  interesting  book  will  make 
admirable  illustrations  of  Scripture 
truth.  Christian  at  the  wicket-gate 
will  appropriately  enforce  the  Sa- 
viour's direction,  "  Knock,  and  it 
shall  be  opened  unto  you."  Christian 
at  the  Interpreter's  house  forcibly 
illustrates  the  necessity  of  Divine 
teaching- ;  and  Clrristian  losing  his 
roll  vividly  depicts  the  evils  which 
arise  from  a  want  of  watchfulness ; 
while  nearly  every  stage  in  the  pro- 
gress of  the  Pilgrim  impressively 
illustrates  the  constant  need  which 
exists  for  the  guidance  of  our  Hea- 
venly Father. — Hartley. 

655.  How  to  teach  pictorially. — 
If  Sunday  -  school  teachers  would 
excel  in  pictorial  teaching,  they 
must  endeavour,  in  the  first  place, 
to  gain  a  correct  impression  for 
themselves  of  the  scene  or  circum- 
stance under  consideration ;  and  in 
order  to  do  this,  they  must  seek, 
with  painstaking  diligence,  all  the 
information  which  is  necessary  to 
elucidate  the  subject  ;  and  what 
knowledge  or  experience  fails  to 
impart,  imagination  must  supply,  in 
order  that  by  some  means  or  other 
they  may  gain  a  clear,  distinct,  and 
definite  idea  of  the  events  about  to 
be  described  ;  and  then  they  must 
ivj  to  transfer  the  photograph  to  the 
minds  of  their  scholars. — American 
Sunday-School  Teacher. 

656.  Three  Methods  of  Pictorial 
Teaching, — There  are  three  ways  in 
which  Sunda}'- school  teachers  may 
employ  the  Pictorial  method  of  in- 
struction with  advantage  to  their 
scholars. 

1.  The  presentation  to  the  eye  of 
any  picture,  drawing,  map,  or  other 
tangible  object,  which  will  aid  in 
making  plain  the  subject  of  instruc- 
tion. 

2.  The  description  of  Bible  scenes 
and  events  in  a  manner  so  graphic 


and  life-like  as  to  present  to  the 
mental  Adsion  a  vivid  picture  of  the 
circumstance  or  narrative  under  con- 
sideration. 

3.  The  illustration  of  abstract 
truths  by  means  of  mental  images 
or  pictures,  consisting  of  anecdotes, 
historical  facts,  or  parables,  in  order 
to  impart  correct  knowledge  and 
vivid  impressions. — Hartley. 

657.  A  Picture  Lesson. — "As 
the  hart  panteth  after  the  water- 
brooks,  so  panteth  my  soul  after 
Thee,  0  God."  (Ps.  xlii.  1.)  The 
more  common  way,  that  the  pious 
teacher  or  parent  takes,  is  to  pass 
over  the  emblem,  and  at  once  pro- 
ceed with  the  spiritual  lesson — thus 
heginning  at  the  end — without  any 
natural  picture  having  been  pre- 
sented to  the  mind's  eye  of  the 
pupils,  by  which  they  may  be  as- 
sisted to  the  analogy — as  and  so,  as 
the  Natural,  so  the  Spiritual — ^which 
is  so  uniformly  done  by  the  Spirit  of 
God  in  Scripture. 

Points  in  the  Natural  Picture  to 
he  brought  out. 

1 .  Some  points  in  the  natural  his- 
tory of  the  hart — different  names 
given  to  the  animal — swiftness  of 
foot — where  generally  lives.  Fre- 
quently hunted.  2.  \yhere  to  flee 
to  in  a  mountainous  country,  as 
Judea,  when  pursued — hills  or  val- 
leys. 3.  Heat,  drought,  dust  — 
efiect  on  the  animal,  particularly 
after  running — thirst.  4.  Iluiming 
about  seeking  for  water — increasing 
— not  merely  a  drink,  but  a  brook, 
where  it  may  plunge  in  as  well  as 
drink.  5.  Why,  then,  a  brook,  and 
not  a  stream  ? — picture  out  a  brook. 

6.  Brooks  more  likely  to  be  found 
in  plains — but  animal  pursued  there. 

7.  The  hart,  heated  and  thirsty, 
therefore  ^:>«?i^s — what  is  panting  'r 

8.  Has  the  hart  ever  bathed  in 
water-brooks  before  ?    If  not,  would 


232 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WOELD. 


it  have  panted  and  longed  for  it? 
The  full  picturing  out  of  these  points 
(even  in  the  incomplete  and  imper- 
fect manner  that  can  be  done  on 
paper)  would  greatly  exceed  our 
limits.  The  natural  pictiu^e  or  con- 
dition of  the  hart  being  visible  to 
the  minds  of  the  childi'cn,  the  ana- 
logy to  the  circumstances  in  which 
Daml  was  placed  will  appear,  viz., 
pursued  by  his  enemies,  and  espe- 
cially by  his  own  son,  Absalom — 
fleeing  to  the  mountains  for  safety — 
away  from  the  sanctuary,  &c.,  &c. 
He,  no  doubt,  on  seeing  the  harts 
near  him  panting  and  seeking  for 
water-brooks,  mournfully  and  long- 
ingly expressed  himself:  ' '  So  panteth 
my  soul  after  Thee,  0  God." — Ex- 
ample  of  Pictorial  Teaching  from 
David  Stoiv. 

658.  Biographical  Sketch. — The 
question  of  object-teaching,  as  ap- 
plied to  Sabbath- school  instruction, 
has  attracted  considerable  attention 
of  late.  It  is  generally  known  that 
the  system  has  been  applied  to  pri- 
mary instruction  in  our  secular 
schools  for  years.  The  "  Pestalozzian 
System  "  is  often  alluded  to  as  the 
basis  of  the  idea.  A  word  as  to  the 
inventor,  John  Henry  Pestalozzi, 
taken  from  the  German,  will  be  of 
interest  to  our  readers.  Who  was 
Pestalozzi  ?  I  answer,  he  was  one 
of  the  noblest  friends  of  children 
that  ever  lived ;  a  man  who  has 
rendered  immortal  service  in  the 
cause  of  popular  education,  who 
sought  for  and  found  all  his  wealth 
and  happiness  in  being  the  fatherly 
benefactor  of  the  poor,  the  orphan,, 
and  the  unfortunate.  His  cliief 
pleasure  was  in  being  himself  a 
child  among  children.  But,  if  you 
ask  me  what  was  his  reward  for  the 
blessed  activity  of  his  life,  I  must 
sadly  reply  that  the  ungrateful 
world  usually  rewards  its  benefac- 
tors with  thorns  and  tears,  and  in 


both  these  the  life  of  Pestalozzi  was 
rich.  When  a  mere  youth  he  had 
lost  his  father,  who  was  a  physician 
in  Zimch,  yet  through  the  seK- 
denial  of  his  mother  and  of  his 
grandfather,  a  pious  country  clergy- 
man, he  received  an  excellent  edu- 
cation. The  strong  desire  of  the 
latter,  that  he  should  become  a 
preacher  of  the  Gospel,  he  never 
realised  ;  he  entered  upon  the  study 
of  law,  but  after  awhile  renounced 
it  entirely  and  became — a  peasant. 
How  wonderful  are  the  ways  of  the 
Lord !  It  was  necessary,  and  so 
brought  about,  that  Pestalozzi  should 
become  a  peasant,  in  order  to  be- 
come the  great  reformer  of  popular 
instruction  in  Germany  and  Switzer- 
land. With  the  patrimony  which 
he  inherited  from  his  father  he 
bought  the  Little  farm  of  NeuJiof 
near  Bern,  and  married  Anna  Schiil- 
theiss,  the  daughter  of  a  master 
manufactiu'er  in  Zurich.  The  little 
farm  and  the  factory  of  his  father- 
in-law  now  claimed  and  received  all 
his  attention.  His  daily  engage- 
ments brought  him  into  contact, 
more  or  less  direct,  with  the  poorest 
of  the  people,  and  in  a  short  time 
theii'  want  and  misery,  their  gross- 
ness  and  demoralisation — in  a  word, 
the  a^^ul  depths  of  their  moral  and 
spiritual  degradation — aftected  the 
sensitive  heart  of  the  man  with  such 
sadness  as  often  deprived  him  of 
sleep.  But  his  sleepless  nights  were 
not  spent  merely  in  lamenting  the 
evil,  but  also  in  trying  to  devise  a 
remedy  for  it.  And  this  remedy  he 
believed  that  he  had  at  length  found 
in  the  better  education  of  the  children 
of  the  humbler  classes.  His  resolu- 
tion was  at  once  taken,  ' '  I  will  be- 
come a  schoolmaster,  a  teacher,  and 
trainer  of  poor  children,  and  the 
world  shall  be  made  better."  In  liis 
heart  he  heard  a  voice,  which  said, 
"Thou  shouldst,"  and  i)i'esently 
another,  which  said,  "Thou  canst" 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WOKLD. 


233 


— and  lie  answered  the  voices  by 
saying — "I  will."  How  nobly  he 
kept  his  word  is  known  throughout 
Christendom  and  beyond  it — he  be- 
came a  world-schoolmaster,  a  teacher 
whose  genius  and  influence  have 
been  felt  wherever  an  attempt  has 
been  made  to  ameliorate  the  condi- 
tion of  mankind  by  the  instruction 
of  the  young.  He  entered  promptly 
and  vigorously  upon  the  execution 
of  his  plan.  In  the  year  1775,  he 
gathered  about  him  fifty  childi-en, 
many  of  them  the  ofispring  of  street 
beggars,  and  constituted  himseK  not 
only  their  teacher,  but  their  pro- 
vider and  father  as  well.  After  a 
few  months  these  children,  at  least 
many  of  them,  were  so  improved,  so 
capable  of  appreciating  truth  and 
goodness,  that  frequently,  in  the 
evening,  when  Pestalozzi  had  prayed 
with  them  before  going  to  bed,  they 
would  beg  him  to  remain  with  them 
a  while  longer,  and  continue  his 
pious  instructions  in  the  dark.  In  a 
few  years,  however,  the  noble  enter- 
prise came  to  naught.  Pestalozzi, 
by  his  great  benefactions,  involved 
himself  in  debt;  the  institute  was 
broken  up.  The  little  farm  was 
leased — and  not  only  abject  poverty, 
but  derision,  was  the  guerdon  of  this 
true  philanthropist. — Pestalozzi. 


THE  BLAOKBOAED. 

659.  Its  Utility.— The  watch- 
word of  progress  in  the  common 
school  is  the  blackboard;  not  used 
as  it  once  was  for  mathematical  de- 
monstrations alone,  but  used  now  in 
every  branch  of  study.  The  great 
discovery  which  teachers  have  made 
is  that  tlie  eye  is  better  than  the  ear. 
A  pupil  receives  quicker,  under- 
stands better,  and  remembers  longer 


that  which  is  presented  to  the  eye, 
than  he  does  that  which  is  taught 
orally.  The  motto  for  all  good 
teachers  is — to  the  blackboard  with 
everything.  It  is  applicable  to  all 
studies,  and  to  aU  grades  from  the 
primary  to  the  high  school. — Ame- 
rican. 


660. 


We  would  not  under- 


take to  conduct  a  Sabbath- school 
without  a  good  blackboard.  The 
great  object  of  it  is  to  direct,  to  con- 
centrate, and  to  Jix  the  attention, 
sympathies,  and  prayers  of  the  whole 
school  upon  that  portion  of  the  Word 
of  God  which  is  embodied  in  the 
great  practical  thought  of  the  lesson. 
It  is  affectingly  interesting  to  see  a 
whole  school,  teachers  and  scholars, 
banishing  their  worldly  thoughts, 
and  raising  their  eyes  and  hearts  ap- 
parently up  to  the  great  warm 
thought  of  Grod,  as  they  cross  the 
threshold  of  the  schookoom,  and 
see,  in  clear,  distinct  letters  on  the 
blackboard  the  key-note  of  the  les- 
son for  the  day ;  as,  "  My  son,  give 
me  thine  heart."  ' '  Son,  go  work  to- 
day in  my  "sineyard."  "  The  soul 
that  sinneth,  it  shall  die."  "I  will 
arise  and  go  to  my  Father."  *'  Have 
faith  in  God."  "All  waiting  for 
Jesus."  "Flee  from  the  wrath  to 
come."  "  About  My  Father's  busi- 
ness." "  The  blood  of  Jesus  Christ 
His  Son  cleanseth  us  fi^om  aU  sin." 
"Founded on  a  rock,"  &c. — Pardee. 

661.  Indispensable.  —  Schools 
that  have  Infant-classes  in  separate 
rooms  must  have  a  hlackhoardy  if 
they  would  succeed  best  in  interest- 
ing and  instructing  the  little  folks. 
Here  drawing  is  of  great  import- 
ance, though  it  may  be  ever  so  rude. 
For  instance,  if  the  barren  fig-tree 
is  the  lesson,  draw  a  tree,  though  it 
may  be  a  very  rude  one.  If  you 
talk  of  a  strait  gate  and  narrow  way, 


234 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WOELD. 


and  the  opposite — how  is  the  impres- 
sion increased  in  force  by  drawing 
the  two  ways  on  the  board  ?  Here 
is  a  narrow  (strait)  gate,  and  a 
narrow  way  ascending.  Here 
is  a  broad  way  running  down  to 
destruction.  Your  drawing  may 
be  rude  ;  but  the  children  will  get 
a  visable  representation  of  truth. 
We  have  suggested  simple  exercises, 
and  others  of  the  same  kind  will 
occur  to  every  Infant-class  teacher. 
— S.  S.  Teacher^  Amer. 

662.  May  be  used  in  any  School. 
— The  blackboard  can  be  used  in  a 
school  of  any  size  or  grade,  and  by 
a  superintendent  of  limited  or  large 
experience.  The  board  may  be  large 
or  small,  constructed  against  the 
school  wall,  or  of  a  board,  or  of 
pasteboard  coated  with  a  liquid  solu- 
tion of  slate,  which  is  readily  ob- 
tained at  almost  any  school  furnish- 
ing store.  In  the  construction  of 
the  pasteboard  article  some  superin- 
tendents have  two  of  exactly  the 
same  size  and  pattern,  say  thirty- 
two  or  six  inches  by  forty  or  forty- 
eight  inches.  Of  this  size  they  can 
be  carried  to  and  from  the  school, 
allowing  the  opportunity  of  placing 
the  subject  and  chief  points  'of  the 
lesson  on  the  board  through  the 
week  at  home.  Most  superintendents 
prefer  to  write  the  lesson  in  presence 
of  the  school,  asking  the  scholars  to 
indicate  points  in  the  lesson.  This 
practice,  with  the  younger  children, 
can  scarcely  be  commended  too 
strongly. — House. 

663.  Does  not  require  Special 
Talent. — There  is  a  mistaken  idea 
that  nobody  can  use  a  blackboard 
but  a  person  of  great  ingenuity,  or 
one  who  has  considerable  skill  in 
drawing.  There  could  be  no  greater 
mistake.  The  more  ingenuity  and 
skill  you  have,  the  more  useful  you 
will  make  your  black  friend ;  but  if 


you  can  write  legibly,  you  can  in- 
terest and  instruct  a  Sunday-school 
with  the  blackboard.  You  can 
wi'ite  a  text  that  embodies  the  pro- 
minent thought  of  the  lesson.  Sup- 
pose, for  instance,  your  lesson  is  the 
cursing  of  the  barren  fig-tree,  you 
can  vmiio.  upon  the  board  these 
words,  "Nothing  but  leaves,"  and 
then,  in  a  few  pointed  remarks,  call 
attention  to  the  sin  of  unfruitful- 
ness. — Amei'ican. 


EXAMPLES  OF  BLAOKBOAKD 
LESSONS. 

664.  No.  I.  Jesus  Divine.  John 
xiv.,  5-11.  Golden  Topic— Jesus 
is  the  true  God.  Golden  Text. — 
For  in  Him  dwelleth  all  the  fulness 
of  the  Godhead  bodily.     Col.  ii.  9. 

What  proof  have  we  that  Jesus  is 
more  than  man  ?  His  words ;  His 
books  ;  His  life.  What  does  He  say 
of  Himself?  [Write  first  line  of 
diagram.]  Jesus  one  with  God. 
Our  Redeemer,  oiu"  God  and  Father. 
How  good  in  Him  to  come  down  from 
Heaven  and  be  Himself  the  Way  ? 
How  is  Jesus  the  Way  f  Through 
whom  can  we  come  to  the  Father  ? 
The  way  by  His  teachings ;  by  His 
example ;  by  His  death.  The  way 
to  God's  favour  ;  to  eternal  life. 

In  like  manner  bring  out  the  way 
in  which  is  the  Truth  and  the  Life. 

Make  a  personal  application  "  Do 
Z"  He  is  xcay  in  which  we  should 
ivalh.  How  icaJk  ?  He  is  the  truth 
in  whom  we  must  trust.  How  ?  He 
is  the  Life.  In  Him  only  can  we 
live. 

Out  of  Christ  as  the  Way,  there  is 
nothing  but  wandering ;  out  of  Christ 
as  the  Truth,  nothing  but  error ;  out 
of  Christ  as  the  Life,  nothing  but 
eternal  death.  Look  unto  Him  and 
be  saved. 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WORLD. 


235 


I  AND  THE  FATHER  ARE  ONE. 

WAY  WALK 

JESUS  tie  TRUTH  DO  I  TRUST  in  HIM? 
LIFE  LIVE 


665.  No.  11.  Jesus  in  (jethse- 
mane.  Maek  xiv.  Luke  xxii.  32-40, 
43,  44.  GrOLDEN  Text. — The  perfect 
sacrifice  of  self.  Golden  Text. — 
Mark  xiv.  36. 


"What  was  the  ''cup"  of  which 
our  Saviour  prayed?  Our  sins. 
Not  for  Himsell',  but  for  the  world — 
for  you  and  me.  "What  is  the  great 
lesson  of  the  garden  ?  Repeat  Golden 


THE  NIGHT  OF  AGONY. 

OUR  SINS. 

THY   WILL    BE    DONE, 

Strength  in  Prayer, 


Topic.  *'Thy  will  be  done."  No 
laurmuring,  no  complaint  against  the 
wicked  world  that  brought  to  Him 
this  cup  of  sorrow  and  anguish. 
Perfect  submission  to  the  will  of  the 
Father.       What  a  lesson    for    us ! 

666.  No.  in.  Jesus  on  Calvary. 
Matt.  xv.  25-28,  33,  34,  37-39. 
Golden  Topic. — Life  comes  by  Death. 
Golden  Text. — Isa.  liii.  5. 


Can  we  learn  to  say  in  all  things, 
"  Thy  will  be  done." 

In  what  way  was  our  Saviour 
strengthened  ?  "What  preparation 
for  His  suffering  ?  What  answer  ?  The 
Divine  lesson  and  the  Divine  example. 

Eeview  the  details  of  the  lesson 
briefly.  How  was  sin  atoned  for 
under  the  law  of  Moses  ?  Who 
offered    the    sacrifice  ?       Sin    only 


THE    GREAT   SACRIFICE. 

OUR  ATONEMENT. 

WHAT  HAS  THE  CROSS  DONE  FOR  ME  ? 


236 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


washed  out  by  blood.  Jesus  our  :  sacrifice  bave  satisfied  ?  The  results 
Grreat  High  Priest.  What  sacrifice  {  flowing  from  the  Cross  ?  To  whom  ? 
did  He  offer  ?  For  wbom  ?  Our  :  Cbiist  bas  died— bave  we  believed  ? 
sacrifice  is  tbe  crucifixion.  Define  Make  personal  application  of  tbe 
Atonement.  At-one-ment — reconci-  I  question  For  me  ? 
liation  witb  God.     Would  any  otber  | 


667.  No.  IV.  Jesus  in  G-lory. 
Key.  i.  12-18.  Gtolden  Topic. — 
Tbe  eternal,  universal,  all-glorious 
God.      Golden  Text. — Rev.  xi.  15. 

Tbe  same  Blessed  One  wbo  came 
down  to  eartli  and  became  tbe  Son  of 
Man    bas    ascended    again    to    His 


heavenly  home.  He  sitteth  on  tbe 
Throne  of  Heaven.  King  of  Sufferers 
here,  there  the  King  of  Glory  forever. 
Jesus  in  Heaven.  The  glory  of  the 
Saints ;  theii'  joy ;  their  light ;  their 
salvation. 

Bring   out  from  the  school    and 


THE  KING  OF  GLORY. 

ON  EARTH. 

IN  HEAVEN. 

LOWLY 
DESPISED 
SERVANT 
CONDEMNED 

EXALTED 
ADORED 
KING 
JUDGE 

SUFFERING. 

GLORY. 

JESUS  THE  KING  OF  GLORY. 

OUR  SAVIOUR. 


write  upon  the  board  the  contrast '  children  shall  partake  of  that  glory^ 
between  the  portion  of  Jesus  on  earth,  I  Jesus  tbe  heir  of  His  Father's  throne.. 
and  His  character  and  place  in  the  j  His  saints  *' joint  heirs"  with  Him. 


heavenly  Kingdom. 

Jesus  the  King  of  Glory. 


Shall  we  be  among  those  who  "reign 


All  His  j  in  glory  ?  " 


668.  No.  V.  Tbe  Brook  before 
Jordan.  1  I{j:ngs  xvii.  1-7.  Gol- 
den Topic. — God  supplies  our  daily 
wants.    Golden  Text. — Matt.  vi.  11. 

What  does  the  Golden  Topic  say 


God  does  for  us?  Draw  straight 
line,  and  write  over  it  *'  daily  toants.''^ 
Whose  wants?  Ours.  Write  Our 
as  in  diagram.  God  supplies  them. 
Draw  lines  and  write   Sujijilies   on. 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL    WOELD. 


237 


each.  Where  do  our  supplies  come 
from?  From  God.  Then  explain; 
daily  wants  dependent  on  supplies 
that  come  from  God.  Draw  lines 
and  write  as  in  diagram.  Illustra- 
tion.— Street  lamp;  gas  light  our 
daily  want.  Gas  supplied  through 
pipes  from  reservoir.  No  pipe,  no 
gas ;  no  gas,  no  Hght,  &c. 

"We  have  two  kinds  of  daily  wants 
— Temporal  (write)  for  our  bodies, 
and  Sjnritual  (write)  for  our  souls. 


What  are  our  temporal  wants  ?  Air, 
Water  and  Food.  (Write  and  illus- 
trate.) There  are  spiritual  wants, 
to  balance  the  temporal.  Can  you 
mention  them.  Air  necessary  to 
our  Hfe.  The  Spirit  of  Grod  everj' 
where  to  help  those  who  love  God. 
Like  water.  Prayer  refreshes  and 
strengthens.  Illustrate.  — Summer 
showers,  their  effects.  So  prayer 
refreshes  the  Christian. 

Does  a  Christian  need  food  ?    Does 


TEMPORAL 

AIR 

WATER 

FOOD 


OUR 
DAILY  WANTS. 


SPIRITUAL 

HOLY  SPIRIT 

PRAYER 

BIBLE 


BODY. 


SOUL. 


-GOD 


My  Heavenly  Father  cares  for  me. 


he  need  spiritual  food  ?  Where  will 
he  get  it  ?  From  the  Bible.  God's 
Word  the  grand  storehouse  from 
whence  the  Christian  gets  the  food 
that  sustains  his  spiritual  life.  Flus- 
trate. 

How  do  we  get  what  we  want  from 
GUI'  parents?  How  shall  we  ask 
God?    Will  He  hear  us  ?    TeU  story 

669.  VI.  The  Widow  of  Zare- 
phath.  1  KixGS  xviii.  8-16.  Gol- 
DEX  Topic. — God  cares  for  the  poor. 
Golden  Text. — Heb.  xiii.  5. 

Repeat  the  Golden  Text.  What 
important  lesson  does  it  teach  ?  To 
be  contented,  and  to  trust  in  God. 
Call  out  the  facts  of  the  lesson  of  the 


of  the  lesson.  The  lonely  brook,  the 
hungry  servant  of  God,  the  food  sent 
him,  the  ravens.  The  prophet  trusted 
in  God.  Let  us  always  trust  in 
Him.  When  we  cannot  find  help, 
our  Heavenly  Father  will  always 
open  a  way  for  our  help,  if  we  trust 
in  Him.  ' 


day.  Was  the  woman  discontented  ? 
Did  she  come  to  the  prophet  com- 
plaining of  her  poverty  and  hard  lot  ? 
Did  God  send  Elijah  to  her?  Do 
you  think  God  meant  to  help  her 
because  she  was  poor,  and  a  good 
woman  ?  Did  He  keep  His  promises 
to  help  the  poor  ? 


238 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


What  does  the  story  of  the  poor 
widow  prove  ?  Repeat  Golden  Topic. 
<jrive  illustration  of  the  help  Grod  often 
sends  His  people  in  their  distresses. 
(Write  Cares  and  Poor  perpendicu- 


larly. )  Let  us  look  in  God's  Word  for 
some  of  the  ways  in  which  God  cares  for 
the  poor.  (Write  proofs  as  brought  out 
and  read  by  the  school,  on  the  black- 
board, as  in  diagram,  and  comment.) 


GOD 


C  Ps.  Iv.  22. 
A  Matt.  vii.  7. 
R  Prov.  xi.  4, 
E  Jas.  i.  17. 
S  Gal.  V.  1. 


for  the 


p  rotects 
Owns 

0  VERSEES 
R  EWARDS 


C.  Ps.  iv.  22,  promise;  A.  Matt, 
viii.  7,  promise;  R.  Prov.  xi.,  4, 
warning;  E.Tsaiahi.  17,  comforting; 
S.  Gal.  V.  1,  decision. 


Call  out  what  God  does  for  those 
who  love  Him,  and  write  opposite  the 
word  Poor  as  in  diagram.  Review 
from  blackboard  and  apply  the  lesson. 


670.  No.  VII.  The  Widow's  Son. 
1  KiXGS  xvii.  17-24.  Golden 
Topic. — God  helps  in  sorrow.  Gol- 
den" Text. — 1  Peter  v.  7. 


Place  on  board  **  The  Mighti/ 
Power.''''  Draw  from  school  the 
principal  events  of  the  lesson.  Death, 
and  the  return  to  life.     Write  Death 


THE  MIGHTY  POWER. 

JOY. 


DEATH. 


LIFE. 


SORROW. 

Faith, 

Prayer,  1®^^^^®  Humility. 


DEATH,  LIFE, 


FAITH  IN  GOD  MAKES  sorrow  joy- 


and  Life  as  above.  Feeling  caused 
by  death?  (Write  Sorroiv.)  By 
return  to  life?      (Write  Joy.)    Of 


what  was  this  an  exhibition  and 
illustration  ?  Point  to  heading.  Of 
whom  ?    (Write  God  in  the  square.) 


I 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WOELD. 


239 


DeatlL  and  life,  sorrow  and  joy,  all 
from  God.  Enlarge  and  illustrate. 
Jokn.  iii.  14,  15.     Num.  xxi.  5-9. 

Who  made  eflfort  to  bring  the  child 
to  life  ?  Was  he  successful  ?  Did 
he  have  great  faith  ?  What  is  faith 
like  ?    like  a  strong  chain.     (Write 


and  add  chain.)  What  do  we  need 
to  make  the  chain  hold  to  us  and 
reach  to  Grod  ?  Prayer  and  Humility. 
(Write.)  Illustrate,  and  bring  out 
from  the  lesson  the  Grolden  Topic, 
and  make  general  application  of  the 
Golden  Text. 


671.  No.  Vm.  The  Wicked  King. 
1  Kings  xviii.  15-19.  Golden 
Topic. — The  wickedness  of  idolatry. 
Golden  Text. — 1  John  v.  21. 

Draw  out  the  Wlio  and  What 
from  the  lesson.     What  is  idolatry  ? 


Worshipping  as  the  true  God  some 
person  or  thing  created;  worshipping 
God  under  the  form  of  some  image. 
Also,  the  giving  up  of  our  hearts  to 
the  love  of  pleasure  more  than  God. 
Both  ways  hateful  to   God.      Eead 


GOD  HATES  IDOLS, 


IDOLS 

to 
Bow  down  before, 


GOLD 
WOOD 
STONE. 


Idols 

Destroy 

Our 

Living 

Souls. 


IDOLS 

in 
The  Heart. 


MONEY 

LOVE  OF  SELF 

VANITY. 


No  help.       Souls  Lost.       No  Help. 


I 


Thou  shalt  have 

NO 

OTHER    GODS 

BEFORE  ME. 

Ex.  XX.  3-6.  Those  who  worship 
idols  bring  trouble  on  themselves  and 
on  others. 

Can  all  idols  be  seen  ?  Some  in 
the  heart.  (Write  outside  columns). 
Does  God  dislike  one  kind  less  than 
another  ?  (Write,  in  large  capitals, 
Idolsy  and  then  draw  from  the  school 


the  words  of  which  the  letters   are 
initial. ) 

Now  we  have  three  columns.  Let 
us  sum  them  up  and  see  the  result. 
(Write  and  enlarge).  Can  we  believe 
the  Bible  and  worship  idols  ?  What 
are  our  idols  ?  What  do  we  love 
more  than  God  ? 


240 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


672.    No.  IX,    Christ's  Mission  as  a  Human  Eeing. 


o 

I— I 


t— I 
P 

< 
"A 
o 

I— t 
cc 

I— I 

M 

H 


I.— Name 


II. 
III. 
IV. 


-Birthplace  .  . 
-Date  op  Birth 
-Age 


{  Lamb  of  God. — Jolin  i.  10. 
I  Christ.— ^e5.  ix.  28. 
<(  Jesus. — Matt.  i.  21. 

Holy  Child.— JL 62^5  iv.  27. 
^Bright  and  Morning  Star. — Rev.  xxii.  16^ 

Bethlehem,  Judea,  (Asia.) — Matt.  ii.  1. 

A.D.  4000. 

About  thirty-three  years. 

f^  Patient, 

Meek, 

Longsuffering, 
V. — Character  .  .  .  -^  Loving, 

Humble, 

Faithful, 
LJust. 

'"" "     f  To  Minister, 
To  Bear  Sin, 
Save  the  World, 
l^Give  His  Life. 

f  Tempted.— ^^ J,  iv.  15. 
J  Despised  and  Rejected. — Isa,  liii.  3. 
I  Mocked  and  Insulted. — Lulie  xxiii.  3G^ 
LPut  to  Death. 


VI.— Mission 


VII.— Treatment  .  .  . 


VIII.— Eesult  OP  His 
Labours   .  .  . 


f  Purchased  Eedemption, 
\  and 

LSits  at  the  Eight  Hand  of  the  Father. 


VI.    CHILDREN'S    SERVICE. 


HISTOEIOAL. 
673.  Worship  by  the  Young  in 
the  Schools  of  the  Prophets.  — 
A  school  thus  formed  is  referred  to 
undoubtedly  in  the  First  Book  of 
Samuel,  situated  near  the  holy 
tabernacle.  Samuel,  when  quite 
young,  was  placed  and  educated  at 
this  school,  received  while  there  a 
call  from  heaven,  and  became  a 
prophet  of  the  Lord.  Previously  to 
this  time,  according  to  Jahn,  "there 
had  been  many  other  schools  of  this 
kind,  which  had  fallen  into  discredit, 
but  which  were  restored  again  by 
the  prophet  Samuel,  after  whose 
time  the  members  of  the  seminaries 
in  question,  who  were  denominated 
by  way  of  distinction,  the  Sons  of 
the  Prophets^  acquired  no  little  noto- 
riety." One  of  these  seminaries  was 
at  Naioth,  a  suburb  of  E,amah,  where 
Samuel  lived ;  another  was  at  Bethel ; 
another  at  Gilgal;  and  others,  per- 
haps, at  Jericho  and  Jerusalem.  .  .  . 
"  It  is  pretty  evident,"  says  Dr.  J.  P. 
Smith,  "  from  various  intimations, 
that  some  eminent  persons,  such  as 
Samuel  or  Elijah,  presided  over  them, 
and  undertook  the  charge  of  commu- 
nicating instruction  to  these  young 
persons."  .  .  .  Among  the  ancient 
Israelites,  it  was  a  common  practice 
in  seasons  of  worship  to  chant  their 
prayers  and  praises,  accompanied  by 
instruments.  This  music  was  a  source 
of  high  national  enjoyment,  and  the 
taste  for  it  probably  was  perfected, 


if  not  formed,  at  these  schools.  .  .  . 
This  Ringing  or  chanting,  by  the 
whole  school,  is  called  in  the  Scrip- 
tures 7:>ro/j7«esyj«/7;  as  when  Saul  sent 
messengers  to  arrest  Da^id,  who  had 
taken  refuge  in  the  school  at  Ramah. 
..."  And  when  they  saw  the  com- 
pany of  prophets  prophesying,  and 
Samuel  standing  as  appointed  over 
them,  the  Spirit  of  God  was  upon 
the  messengers  of  Saul,  and  they 
also  prophesied;" — that  is,  united 
with  Samuel  and  the  whole  school 
in  the  recitation  or  chanting  of  some 
sacred  composition  in  praise  of  the 
wisdom  and  wonderful  works  of 
Jehovah.  ...  In  this  kind  of  pro- 
phes}dng  or  chanting  the  whole 
school  were  initiated  and  constantly 
practised.  By  this  means  much  sacred 
thought  and  wisdom  was  committed 
to  memory,  made  popular  by  recita- 
tion, and  widely  diffused. — TJie  His- 
tory of  Sunday -SclioolSy  hy  Lewis  G, 
Pray. 

674.  Care  of  Children  by  Mini- 
sters in  the  Early  Church.  —  IS^o 
sooner  had  their  Master  ascended 
.  .  .  than  they  [the  Apostles} 
entered  upon  the  great  work  of 
evangelisation.  They  commenced  it 
by  public  teaching — by  preaching  the 
Gospel  everywhere ;  .  .  .  and  so  dif- 
ferent was  the  notice  which  they  took 
of  the  young  from  the  course  of  all 
previous  prophets  or  teachers,  that 
we  can  ascribe  it  without  hesitation 
to  the  example  of  their    ascended 


n 


242 


SXrNDAT   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


Master.  .  .  .  Panl  .  .  .  teaches  in 
more  than  one  of  his  Epistles  [preach- 
ing directly  to  the  young],  "  Chil- 
dren, obey  your  parents  in  the  Lord, 
for  this  is  right."  .  .  .  Peter  also, 
.  .  .  addressing  himself  particularly 
to  children,  adds, ''  Ye  younger,  sub- 
mit yourselves  unto  the  elder."  .  .  . 
And  so  .  .  .  John,  .  .  .  how  beauti- 
fully he  writes  on  the  subject! — 
*'I  write  unto  you  little  children, 
because  your  sins  are  forgiven  you 
for  His  name's  sake." — L.  G.  Pray. 

675.  Children's    Worship    com- 
mended in  the  Second  Century. — 

Shepherd  of  tender  youth ! 
Guiding  in  love  and  truth, 

Through  devious  ways. 

Christ,  our  triumphant  King ! 

We  come  Thy  name  to  sing, 

■  And  here  our  children  hring^ 

To  shout  Thy  praise. — 

Translated  from  a  Greek  Hymn  of 

Clement  of  Alexandria  about  a.d. 

200. 

676.  Children's  Claims  nevsr 
wholly  ignored  by  the  Church. — 
In  the  first  few  centuries  of  the 
Christian  era  the  Church  provided 
for  the  young  of  its  charge  by  the 
catechnmenical  schools.  Even  during 
the  dark  ages,  from  the  fourth  to  the 
twelfth  centuries,  cathedral  and  con- 
ventual schools,  and  later,  the  schools 
of  the  universities,  secured  at  least 
nominal  religious  instruction  directly 
from  the  Church  to  the  young.  In- 
deed, all  study  of  Church  history 
shows  clearly  that  the  Christian 
Church  has  never  fallen  so  low  as 
to  formally  deny  the  children's  claim 
to  a  place  in  the  temple,  and  a  share 
in  its  pulpit  ministrations,  and  that 
where  spiritual  life  has  been  fullest, 
there  those  claims  have  been  most 
clearly  recognised.  Children's  wor- 
ship, and  Sunday  teaching  of  the 
children  by  the  Church,  have  had 
no  beginning  since  the  days  of  Jesus. 


677.  Bible  Teaching  and  Eeci- 
tations  among  the  Waldenses  in  the 
Thirteenth  Century. — From  a  very 
early  period  of  their  history,  the 
Yaudois  have  been  distinguished  for 
the  attention  which  they  have  given 
to  education.  .  .  .  According  to  the 
statements  made  by  Reinerius  (in 
the  thirteenth  century),  in  his  work 
against  them,  they  had  anciently 
something  like  a  system  of  mutual 
education,  and  devoted  much  of  their 
time  to  the  work: — ''  He  who  has 
been  a  disciple  for  seven  days  looks 
out  some  one  whom  he  may  teach  in 
his  turn,  so  that  there  is  a  continual 
increase.  If  any  one  would  excuse 
himself,  they  say  to  him — '  Only 
learn  one  word  every  day,  and  at 
the  end  of  the  year  you  will  have 
three  hundred,  and  so  make  progress.' 
.  .  .  I  have  heard  one  of  those  poor 
peasants  repeat  the  whole  book  of 
Job  by  heart  without  missing  a 
single  word ;  and  there  are  others 
who  have  the  whole  of  the  New 
Testament  at  their  fingers'  ends.  .  .  . 
The  Yaudois  know  the  whole  ot  the 
New  Testament  by  heart,  and  much 
of  the  Old ;  nor  .  .  .  will  they  listen 
to  anything  else,  saying  that  all 
sermons  which  are  not  proved  by 
Scripture  are  imworthy  of  belief." — 
The  Vaudois  {Henderson). 

678.  Ignatius  Loyola's  Jesuit 
Schools,  in  the  Sixteenth  Century. 
— Only  seven  years  had  elapsed 
(1546)  since  the  foundation  of  the 
Society.  .  .  .  One  thing  was  hitherto 
wanting,  great  in  itself,  but  greater 
still  in  its  endless  consequences  to 
the  company  and  to  men :  I  allude 
to  the  2^'^bUc  instruction  of  youth. 
On  this  foundation  the  Jesuits  will 
build  their  fortress  of  influence. 
Youth  will  be  trained  to  love,  to 
admire  their  teachers,  and  the  com- 
pany to  which  these  teachers  belong  ; 
for  "the  Jesuit  method  will  be  one  of 
fascination — a  heart-penetrating  be- 


STTITDAT  SCHOOL  WOKLD. 


243 


"witcliiiig  inculcation — fall  of  sweets 
and  flowers,  natural  and  artificial — 
all  that  the  young  love  dearl}^,  and 
parents  love'^to  see.  .  .  .  The  rising 
generation  will  thus  be  in  her  in- 
terest ;  and,  therefore,  in  process  of 
time  the  risen  generation  will  not 
be  against  her ;  but  will  rather  fill 
her  schools  with  another,  and  so  on 
for  ever.  .  .  .  The  morals  of  youth 
were  formed  and  promoted  as  fol- 
lows: .  .  .  the  pupils  were  to  hear 
mass  daily,  and  go  to  confession 
every  month ;  ...  at  the  com- 
mencement of  class-hours,  all  should 
recite  a  devout  prayer,  to  beg  the 
grace  of  profiting  by  their  studies ; 
once  a  week  they  should  be  cate- 
chised in  the  docti:ines  of  faith,  and 
the  principles  of  morality.  In  ad- 
dition to  this,  the  masters  were  to 
take  every  opportunity,  in  and  out 
of  class,  to  converse  familiarly  with 
their  pupils  on  religious  matters. — 
Steiiimetz's  History  of  the  Jesuits, 
Vol.  I.  pp.  346-50. 

679.  Carlo  Borromeo's  Idea  of 
Priestly  Eesponsibility  for  Chil- 
dren, 1560-84.— The  number  of 
schools  and  seminaries  which  he 
founded  is  almost  incredible ;  740 
schools,  with  3,040  teachers  and 
40,098  scholars,  are  recorded.  It 
was  his  theory  that  every  child  be- 
longed to  the  Church,  and  the  priest 
had  special  care  of  the  souls  of 
children.  And  while  he  in  no  de- 
gree abated  the  splendour  of  the 
metropolitan  ritual,  and  left  the 
choir  of  the  cathedral  that  marvel 
of  magnificence  which  it  still  re- 
mains, he  would  have  its  institu- 
tions of  religious  training  only  the 
centre  of  a  system  which  should 
penetrate  the  remotest  parts  of  his 
diocese,  so  that  the  poorest  boy  in 
the  entire  district  might  reach  the 
highest  doctor's  place  in  the  metro- 
politan chapter.  Neglect  of  teach- 
ing was  to  him  a  g-raver  ofience  than 


neglect  of  prayer,  when  he  took 
account  of  his  priesthood. — New 
American  Cyclopcedia, 

680.  Eomish  Zeal  for  Youth  in 
Bohemia  stimulated  by  Lutheran 
Faithfulness.— On  the  16th  of 
August,  1584,  the  curate  Erhard, 
by  advice  of  Cardoneus,  drew  up 
Latin  regulations  for  the  future  con- 
duct of  the  curate  of  Nicolsburg, 
in  which  "  the  clergy  are  .  .  . 
reminded  that  it  is  their  solemn 
duty  .  .  .  diligently  to  teach 
Canisius'  catechism  to  the  young, 
and  insist  upon  their  regular  attend- 
ance at  church;  for  since  the  Lu- 
therans are  so  dilige7it  to  instil  into 
their  children  their  abominable  doc- 
trines, the  Catholic  clergy  ought  not 
to  be  behind  them  in  zeal." — The 
Reformation  and  Anti-Beforination 
in  Bohemia,  p.  121.     London,  1845. 

681.  Revival  among  Moravian 
Children,  1727. —  The  same  grace 
which  the  congregation  had  expe- 
rienced on  the  13th  of  August,  their 
children  experienced  likewise.  There 
appeared,  already  on  the  26th  of 
May,  1727,  the  first  emotions  in 
their  hearts,  by  occasion  of  a  dis- 
course which  the  Count  [Zinzendorf] 
delivered  in  the  oeconomy  of  gii'ls  in 
the  house  of  Baron  De  Watteville 
at  Bertholdsdorf.  .  .  .  This  emotion 
was  the  more  joyous  to  him,  as  he 
had  hitherto  been  deeply  concerned 
on  account  of  the  evident  want  of 
spiritual  life  in  their  hearts.  But 
the  real  and  abiding  awakening  of 
these  children  did  not  take  place  till 
the  17th  of  August,  which  arose 
from  the  testimony  of  a  simple 
brother,  Grumpe,  whom  the  Count 
had  sent  to  Bertholdsdorf  in  June 
the  same  year,  to  instruct  them 
in  the  principles  of  the  Chi'istian 
religion.  In  the  meantime,  the 
memorable  work  of  grace  in  the  soul 
of  a  giii  -of  eleven  years,  proved  on 


M  2 


244 


STn\T)AT   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


the  6tli  of  August,  the  occasion  of 
the  beginning  of  an  extraordinary 
awakening  among  some  girls  who 
lived  with  their  parents  at  Herrnhut, 
which  had  also  a  great  influence 
upon  those  at  Bertholdsdorf,  and 
upon  their  parents  and  the  rest  of 
the  inhabitants.  On  the  29th  of 
August  these  children  were  heard 
praying  on  the  Hutberg  with  such 
fervour,  tears,  and  singing  of  hymns, 
that,  as  it  is  related  in  the  diary  of 
Herrnhut,  "  it  is  impossible  to  de- 
scribe it  in  words."  They  entered 
at  the  same  time  into  a  covenant 
together,  that  they  would  be  the  en- 
tire property  of  our  Saviour.  It  is 
worthy  of  being  taken  notice  of,  as 
something  particular,  that  though 
the  most  powerful  emotions  in  chil- 
dren are  apt  to  die  away  as  they  ad- 
vance in  years,  yet  none  of  these 
children  ever  broke  tbeir  covenant ; 
and  most  of  them  became  blessed 
handmaids  of  Jesus  in  the  congrega- 
tion of  the  brethren.  There  was 
also,  dm-ing  this  period,  a  great 
emotion  and  awakening  among  the 
little  boys  at  Herrnhut:  yet  this 
had  not  such  blessed  consequences, 
or  such  an  abiding  fruit  as  attended 
the  awakening  among  the  girls. — 
History  of  the  Brethren.^  hy  David 
Cranz,  p.  119.     London,  1780. 

682.  Ohilcireii's  Meeting  in Penn., 
1829, — A  worthy  clergyman  in 
Pennsylvania  writes  :  ' '  The  monthly 
concert  of  prayer  for  the  heathen, 
and  for  Sabbath-schools,  are  in- 
teresting seasons  among  us.  When 
we  came  here  they  were  nearly  run 
down.  I  commenced  giving  infor- 
mation and  relating  anecdotes  ap- 
propriate to  each  of  these  occasions. 
I  require  the  children  at  the  next 
concert  for  Sabbath -schools  to  relate 
what  was  said  at  the  last.  In  this 
way  not  only  have  the  children  be- 
come interested,  but  also  the  parents 
and  the  teachers.     The  last  meeting 


was  held  in  the  church,  the  session- 
house  would  not  hold  them.  Many 
were  in  tears.  Only  let  ministers 
of  the  Gospel  do  their  duty,  and 
Sabbath-schools  will  flourish  wher- 
ever ministers  are  found,  and  the 
coneei'ts  of  prayer  will  be  well  at- 
tended." —  New  Jersey  Sunday- 
school  Journal,  Dec,  1829. 

683.  Services  for  Children  in 
Boston,  1834-5.  —  Religious  ser- 
vices appropriate  to  children  are  still 
continued,  morning  and  afternoon, 
at  the  Friend-street  Chapel.  There  are 
generally  from  one  hundred  and 
twenty  to  one  hundred  and  fifty 
children  present.  Many  of  the 
parents  attend  with  the  children, 
and  seem  much  pleased ;  in  the 
visits  to  them,  they  olten  speak  of 
their  children's  interest  in  these 
services.  Though  we  may  not  have 
accomplished  all  that  we  could  wish, 
and  cannot  present  to  view  all  we 
could  desire,  yet  we  have  had  much 
to  encourage  us ;  and  have  become 
each  Sabbath  more  and  more  im- 
pressed with  the  importance  of  these 
services  and  the  good  that  may  re- 
sult from  them.  .  .  .  The  field  for 
usefulness  in  this  respect  is  great, 
and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  plain 
and  simple  manner  adopted  of  illus- 
trating religious  truth  may  in  some 
cases  produce  that  happy  result, 
which  is  so  earnestly  to  be  desired. 
.  .  .  Eev.  Mr.  Wright  is  employed 
by  the  Society  for  the  Moral  and 
Religious  Education  of  the  Poor. 
He  is  effecting  a  great  deal  of  good 
at  West  Boston.  His  congregation 
of  children  in  the  morning  and 
afternoon  of  the  Sabbath  is  very 
large. — Report  of  the  Ministers-at- 
Large.     1835. 

684.  Worship  for  Children, 
Uismes,  France,  1846. — Although 
the  instruction  given  to  the  cate- 
chumens is  extensive,  regular,  and 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


245 


varied,  according  to  their  different 
degrees  of  intelligence,  tlie  Consis- 
tory has  nevertheless  thought  that 
it  was  insufficient;  and  the  means 
which  they  have  adopted  to  secure 
a  more  solid  development  of  their 
religious  character  has  been  the 
estal)lishment  of  a  religious  service 
adapted  to  the  young,  celebrated  on 
every  Wednesday,  at  the  small 
temple,  at  eleven  o'clock,  a.m. — 
Translation  from  French  Heport,  hj 
Pray. 

685.  English  Plan  for  Children's 
Services,  1847. — In  lieu  of  the 
adult  public  service,  it  would  be 
well  to  hold  at  the  same  time,  every 
Sabbath  morning,  a  separate  reli- 
gious service  for  children,  adapted 
to  their  tender  capacities.  The  chil- 
dren should  have  a  sermon  preached 
to  them  by  a  regularly  appointed 
party  ;  a  text  should  be  taken  and  a 
discourse  delivered,  matter,  manner, 
and  style  suited  to  their  infantile 
minds :  but  even  at  this  juvenile 
service  the  smallest  children  should 
not  be  present ;  the  infants  should 
be  taught  in  a  separate  room  by  an 
infant  teacher,  as  preaching  of  any 
sort  is  an  unsuitable  mode  of  in- 
struction for  very  little  children. 
There  is  no  objection,  on  the  con- 
trary a  great  advantage,  in  two  or 
three  schools  taught  in  the  same 
vicinity,  meeting,  if  convenient,  at 
the  appointed  hour,  in  one  central 
spot,  that  all  may  share  in  the  same 
service.  As  preaching  is  God's  ap- 
pointed means  for  spreading  the 
knowledge  of  the  truth,  and  as  more 
souls  have  been  brought  to  Jesus 
through  its  instrumentality  than  by 
all  other  agencies, — for  "it  hath 
pleased  God,  through  the  foolish- 
ness of  preaching,  to  save  those  who 
believe," — we  assert  that  preaching 
to  children  in  a  style  which  they 
can  understand  must  be  productive 
of  good  to  them,  and  results  must 


follow  its  general  adoption  that  shall 
cause  the  hearts  of  parents  and 
teachers  to  sing  for  joy. — The  Sun- 
day-School, hy  Louisa  Davids,  p. 
225. 

686.  "Children's  Church"  in 
Glasgow,  Scotland,  1861-3. — During 
the  two  years  we  occupied  the  City 
Hall  we  carried  on  a  special  service, 
which  was  soon  attended  by  about 
five  hundred.  This  was  conducted 
not  as  a  Sabbath-school,  but  as  a 
children's  church,  and  was  won- 
drously  helpful  in  training  the  chil- 
dren into  chiu^ch-going  habits,  and 
bridging  the  chasm  between  the 
school  and  the  church.  This  ser- 
vice became  very  popular.  Con- 
ductors of  Sabbath-schools  fre- 
quently visited  it,  and  in  a  short 
time  nearly  sixty  similar  though 
smaller  meetings  were  organised 
throughout  the  city.  Some  of  the 
children,  above  twelve  years  of  age, 
were  trained  as  a  visitation  agency, 
after  the  model  of  our  adult  method, 
and  thus  about  thirty  of  these  young 
visitors  would  issue  after  morning 
service  and  bring  in  children  from 
the  houses  and  the  streets.  This 
service  continues  now.  .  .  .  Yarious 
office-bearers  and  Sabbath-school 
teachers  take  part.  They  meet  still 
at  two  o'clock,  but  in  the  hall  under 
the  church,  and  we  hear  the  young 
voices  rising  in  their  happy  hymns 
and  mingling  faintly  with  our  ser- 
vice above.  Parents  often  leave 
their  children  there,  and  get  them 
as  they  leave.— 3/acco^^'s  "  Amo72g 
the  Masses"  p.  355. 

687.  Separate  Services  for  Chil- 
dren in  London,  1868. — At  the 
meeting  of  the  London  S.  S.  Super- 
intendents, and  Secretaries'  Associa- 
tion, Aug.  28,  1868,  the  subject  for 
discussion  was,  "  What  means  might 
be  used  to  induce  the  youthful  class 
more  generally  to  devote  the  even- 


246 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


ing  of  tlie  Sabbatli  to  religions  ob- 
jects."     Mr.   C.  A.  Comyn   opened 
tbe  question.     Tbe  best  antidote  to 
the  evil  appeared  to  him  to  be  the 
establishment  of  juvenile   Sunday- 
evening   services   for  worship.  .  .  . 
The  h}Tnn-book  decided  upon  should 
not  be  too  childish,  and  a  number  of 
Bibles  should  be   provided  for  the 
use  of  those  who  might  come  unpro- 
vided with  a  copy  of  the  Scriptures. 
The   prayers   should    be   short   and 
clothed  in  the   simplest   language, 
but  above  all  things  they  should  be 
prayers  icith  and  not  foj-  the  con- 
gregation;   not,   "Bless  these  dear 
children,    bless    their    parents    and 
friends,"  but,  "  Bless  us,  oru-  parents 
and  friends."     All  peculiar  figura- 
tive expressions,  as    "  giving  their 
hearts  to  God,    and  themselves  to 
His  people,"  should  be  reduced  to 
their  meaning  of  conversion,  change 
of    disposition    and    active   service. 
Scriptural    truths    should    be    ex- 
■plained  in  the  ordinary  phraseology 
of  the  day.     The  reading  sliould  be 
natural  and  without  affectation.  _  A 
few  of    the    older    boys   and    girls 
should  be  selected  to  form  a  choir. 
The  h;yTnns,  portions  of  Scripture, 
and  addresses,   should  be  arranged 
so    as    to    bear    upon   one    idea  or 
lesson.  .  .  .  The    order    of    service 
adopted  by  the  East  London  Auxi- 
liary, and  which  was  found  eminently 
successful, .  .  .  was  divided  into  two 
parts  :    the  first  was  taken  by  the 
superintendent,  who  had  his  sepa- 
rate and  distinct  table  on  a  level 
with    the    congregation,    and    the 
second  part  by  the  teacher  who  offi- 
ciated as  minister,  and  who  had  his 
desk  on  a   slightly  raised  platform 
behind.     The  doors  were  opened  at 
about  a  quarter  or  half-past  six,  and 
at  a  quarter  to  seven,  Bibles,  &c., 
having  been  previously  distributed, 
a  call-bell  was  touched  as  a  signal 
for  silence.    The  time  devoted  to  the 
service  was  thus  apportioned : — The 


superintendent  after  kneeling  for  a 
minute  or  two  in  silent  prayer,  an- 
nounced the  opening  hymn.  Singing 
hymn,  about  five  minutes.  Eeading 
a  psalm,  the  superintendent  and 
congregation  reading  alternate  verses 
(congregation sitting),  seven  minutes. 
Gloria  Fatri,  &c.,  chanted,  stand- 
ing, one  minute.  Prayer  and  thanks- 
giving by  the  superintendent  kneel- 
ing, the  congregation  sitting,  five 
minutes.  Hymn  sung,  all  standing, 
five  minutes.  First  lesson  from  Old 
Testament,  by  superintendent,  five 
minutes.  HjTnn  chanted,  all  stand- 
ing, three  minutes.  Second  lesson 
from  New  Testament,  by  minister  or 
superintendent,  five  minutes.  Hymn 
sung,  all  standing,  five  minutes. 
Very  short  prayer  for  wisdom,  at- 
tention, &c. ,  by  minister,  one  minute. 
Address  by  minister,  twenty  to 
twenty-five  minutes.  Hymn  sung, 
five  minutes.  Prayer  and  benedic- 
tion by  minister,  three  minutes. 
The  books  were  then  collected  and 
the  congregation  dispersed.  A  ser- 
vice, thoroughly  diversified,  thus 
occupied  about  an  hour  and  a 
quarter. — London  S.  S.  Times,  Sep- 
tember 4,  1868. 

688.  Western  Advocacy  of  Chil- 
dren's Church. — The  time  of  hold- 
ing these  services  cannot  be  deter- 
mined by  any  fixed  rule.  ...  I 
would  only  stipulate  for  this  as  an 
essential,  viz. :  that  it  be  in  lieu  of 
an  ordinary  service  of  the  Church ; 
and  that  children  and  congregation 
all  understand  that  this  is  a  com- 
mon and  regular  Church  service. 
Any  other  course  is  very  likely  to 
defeat  one  of  the  good  purposes_  of 
such  meetings,  [that  of]  identifying 
the  children  with  the  ordinances  of 
God's  house.  The  right  2)lace  for 
the  children's  church,  is  the  place 
for  the  adults'  assembling;  not  in 
the  chapel,  but  in  the  main  audito- 
rium. This  may  seem  a  little  matter, 


SFNDAT   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


247 


and  so  it  is  relatively ;  but  it  lias  its 
importance  in  the  formation  of  right 
religions  habits,  in  training  the  foot- 
steps of  the  yonng  to  tread  the  path 
that  leads  "  np  Zion's  hill."  .  .  . 
Let  the  children's  chiu'ch  be  held 
regularly.  Let  its  claims  to  observ- 
ance be  borne  in  mind  and  respected 
by  all.  If  it  is  forgotten,  omitted, 
or  unceremoniously  jostled  aside  a 
few  times  to  make  way  for  some 
other  special  or  regular  service,  it 
"will  be  treated  by  the  children  in 
the  same  spirit.  And  why  not  ?  .  .  . 
Let  it  be  a  pleasant  and  judicious 
blending  of  the  methods  of  church 
and  Sunday-school,  both  in  worship 
and  instruction.  Thus  the  children 
will  be  led  imperceptibly  from  the 
school-house  to  the  house  of  God, 
and  these  services  will  be  the  step- 
ping-stones. The  Church  will  have 
a  place  in  their  thoughts  and  loves. 
The  sanctuary  and  its  order  of  wor- 
ship will  become  a  part  of  their 
habits.  The  minister  will  take  his 
lawful  place  in  their  minds  as  their 
pastor  and  God's  ambassador  to 
them.  And  in  after  years,  fewer  of 
them  will  be  alienated  from  the 
counsel  of  the  minister  and  the  or- 
dinances of  God's  house. — Rev.  H. 
C.  McCook^  of  St.  Louis,  in  S.  S. 
Times,  Dec.  5,  1868. 


THE  SERVICE  DESCRIBED. 

689.  Separate  Services.  —  The 
words  refer  to  a  special  preaching 
service  for  children.  In  portions  of 
England  the  children  who  attend 
but  one  session  of  the  Sabbath- 
school  per  Sabbath,  are  gathered 
after  school  into  a  chapel-room  or 
into  the  larger  Sunday-school  room, 
and  are  there  addressed  by  a  minis- 
ter or  by  some  layman  who  has  pre- 


viously prepared  for   the   exercise* 
The  older  children, — that  is,  those  of 
ten  years  and  upward, — have  gone 
meantime  to  the  regular  preaching 
service  for  adults.     These  separate 
services,  as  conducted  by  our  Eng- 
lish  friends,  observe   a  programme 
somewhat  as  foUows : — A  chapter  of 
the  Bible  is  read,  the  children  re- 
peating clause  by  clause,  or  else  a 
parable,  a  psalm,  or  part  of  a  narra- 
tive, and  then  the  preacher   ques- 
tions the  children,  and  they  question 
him.  Usually  two  prayers  are  offered, 
one  before,  the  other  after,  the  read- 
ing of  the  Scriptures.    These  prayers 
are  not  offered  by  the  preacher  for 
the  children,  but  ivith  them,  they 
often  joining  in   concert.     Two   or 
three  hymns  are  also  intermingled, 
and  then  the  sermon  is  given,  which 
is  a  presentation  of  some  Bible  truth 
in  simple,  plain  words,  "udth  appro- 
priate   illustrations,    and    not    over 
thirty    minutes    in    length.      Fre- 
quently  a    verse    is    sung    in    the 
middle  of  the  discourse,  either  as  a 
relief  to  the  little  hearers,  or  as  a 
means  of  sealing  the  truth.     In  this 
country  separate  services,  as  gene- 
rally understood,  mean  the  delivery 
by  the  pastor   of  the  church   of  a 
sermon  adapted  to  the  tastes   and 
comprehension  of  all  the  children  of 
the  school.  This  sermon  is  fui'nished 
sometimes  monthly,  sometimes  quar- 
terly, rarely  once  a  fortnight.   Occa- 
sionallj^  a  pastor  takes  the  skeleton 
of  a  discourse  preached  to  the  adult 
members   of  his   congregation,   and 
fills  it  up  with  teachings,  illustra- 
tions, and  facts   comprehensible   to 
the    most    juvenile    mind,    and    so 
makes  a  children's  sermon.     A  pro- 
minent  Presbji:erian   clergyman   of 
New  York   city   has    piu-sued    tliis 
plan  monthly  for  fourteen  years,  and 
with  good  results.   The  gro's\Ti  pep  le 
have  been  regularly  present,  in  fair 
force,  and  have  manifested  as  keen 
interest  in  hearing  the  second  as  the 


248 


SUNDAY  SCHOOL   WOELD. 


first  edition  of  the  discourse.  Eev. 
Richard  Newton,  D.D.,  of  Phila- 
delphia, prepares  his  children's  ser- 
mons with  the  same  care  as  his 
sermons  for  adults,  and  preaches  the 
same  monthly  at  the  regular  hour 
for  morning  service.  The  attend- 
ance of  adults,  as  well  as  of  children, 
is  very  large,  and  both  classes  seem 
alihe  interested.  There  are  objec- 
tions, some  of  them  weighty,  to  these 
exclusive  discourses.  Few  ministers 
are  in  the  habit  of  preaching  them ; 
some  do  not  recognise  their  utility, 
and  others,  though  consenting  to 
their  propriety,  have  scarcely  the 
assurance  to  attempt  their  prepara- 
tion. The  adults,  in  some  sections, 
feeling  that  the  sermon  to-day  is  for 
the  boys  and  girls,  are  unwilling  to 
be  present,  and  so  absent  themselves 
wholly  from  the  forenoon  worship. 
To  meet  the  difficulty,  it  has  been 
suggested  that  the  minister  have 
something  in  every  forenoon  dis- 
course for  the  little  ones  ;  a  sentence, 
a  hint,  a  fact,  a  brief  incident,  or  a 
simply  worded  moral.  Purely  theo- 
logical sermons  will  not  tolerate  such 
digressions  ;  but  theological  sermons 
are  seldom  preached.  Almost  any 
doctrinal,  exegetical,  or  practical 
discourse  has  room  for  words  and 
thoughts  that  any  child  will  relish. 
No  difficulty  in  feeding  the  sheep 
and  lambs  together : 

"  I  Lave  heard  my  father  say,  — 
And  well  my  father  knew, — 
In  it  was  meat  for  full-grown  men, 
And  milk  for  children  too." 

The  "  ancient"  men — the  preachers 
of  one  hundred  years  ago,  '■'■  of  iron 
mould  and  adamant  heart,"  as  some 
persist  in  calling  them,  had  a  spring 
of  affectionate  tenderness  in  their 
breasts  that  wakened  many  a  child's 
love  toward  them.  The  objection 
alleged  that  any  special  notice  of 
the  children  present  in  the  congre- 
gation, or  any  remark  directly  ad- 


dressed to  them,  will  detract  from  the 
general  force  or  seriousnessof  the  ser- 
vice, is  not  sustained  by  experience. 
Mannerisms  are  more  injuiious  than 
digressions.  In  the  well-known  ser- 
vices held  in  the  Union  Tabernacle, 
Philadelphia,  from  1858  to  1864, 
some  four  hundred  different  minis- 
ters preached  nineteen  hundred  ser- 
mons. Many  of  these  ministers 
found  the  mixed  congregations  diffi- 
cult to  interest,  and  only  when  they 
turned  and  spoke  to  the  children, 
in  tender,  plain,  and  affectionate 
words,  did  the  truth  seem  to  reach 
the  grown-up  people.  "I  recall 
distinctly,"  said  Rev.  Edwin  M. 
Long  to  us,  "  that  under  these 
'  digressions,'  the  eyes  of  many  of 
the  fathers  and  mothers  were  filled 
to  overflow  with  tears,  and  a  score 
of  adult  convictions  and  conversions 
came  to  my  knowledge  afterward, 
all  traceable  to  the  words  which 
were  addressed  particularly  to  the 
childi'cn  and  yoimg  people."  Unity, 
simplicity,  and  earnestness,  it  is 
conceded  on  all  hands,  should  be 
elements  in  every  sermon  addressed 
to  children.  Ought  they  not  also 
to  be  elements  in  every  discourse 
addressed  to  adults !  And  is  not 
every  boy  and  every  girl  an  admirer 
of  any  earnest  speaker,  though  half 
his  words  may  be  beyond  their  com- 
prehension? "I  liked  that  man 
very  much,"  said  "Willie  to  his 
father,  once  after  hearing  a  German 
minister  tell  his  Christian  experi- 
ence. "  How  so,  Willie,  you  did 
not  understand  his  language?" 
"No,  pa,  but  his  eyes  were  so 
bright,  and  he  seemed  so  anxious 
for  us  all  to  feel  as  he  felt."  The 
beha\dour  of  the  parents  and  adults 
in  regard  to  hearing  the  sermon  has 
much  to  do  with  a  child's  attention. 
A  child  who  sees  father  or  mother 
intently  listening  will,  from  the 
contagiousness  of  the  example,  listen 
himself  to  see  what  the  minister  is 


STJNDAT    SCHOOL   WOELD. 


249 


saying.  What,  then,  is  wisdom  in 
the  matter  ?  Let  the  circumstances 
assist  in  determining.  If  you  are 
holding  two  sessions  per  day  of  your 
school,  which  is  of  more  than  ques- 
tionable expediency,  you  will  not 
find  it  easy  to  sustain  a  children's 
service.  If  your  minister  has  an 
aptitude  for  talking  to  little  as  well 
as  big  people,  let  him  determine  the 
case.  If  he  is  disinclined,  or  not 
fully  qualified,  encourage  him  to 
say  at  least  a  few  words  in  each 
discourse  to  the  children,  or  suggest 
that  one  of  the  Scripture  lessons 
preceding  the  sermon  be  a  narrative 
or  parable  in  which  the  young 
people  will  be  interested.  Above 
all,  urge  that  the  presence  of  the 
children  be  recognised  in  the  prayer, 
and  that  some  part  of  the  petition 
be  made  in  their  behalf.  Further- 
more, give  the  children  an  active 
part  in  the  worship.  The  sermon 
is  not  the  all.  There  are  the  hymns  ; 
let  one  of  them  be  a  Sunday-school 
hymn,  sung  by  the  children,  or  by 
the  children  and  congregation  to- 
gether ;  or,  if  it  be  a  hymn  in  the 
Church  hymn-book,  let  the  words 
and  the  tune  be  familiar  to  the 
children.  Enjoyed  and  enjoyable 
meetings  are  those  in  wliich  we  all 
take  a  part.  Children  do  not  wish 
to  feel  as  a  tribe  apart.  They  have 
a  sense  of  the  right  to  go  into  the 
temple,  as  well  as  to  tarry  on  the 
porch,  and  when  we  come  to  the 
point  of  granting  them  something 
to  do  in  the  temple,  they  will  be 
more  than  aj^t  to  come  to  it  to  dis- 
charge their  duties. — House. 

690.  The  Question  of  Questions. 
— Now  to  the  question  of  questions, 
and  one  on  which  much  diversity  of 
opinion  prevails — the  attendance  of 
children  on  jjuhlic  devotional  services, 
and  the  propriety  of  holding  separate 
religious  services  for  Sunday  scho- 
lars.    These  important  and   some- 


what agitating  points  require  full 
and  impartial  investigation.  We 
would  not  that  any  of  our  scholars 
should  be  taken  tn:ice  to  the  house 
of  God  on  the  Lord's-day  ;  we  would 
not  that  the  infants,  the  ignorant, 
and  the  junior  Scripture  classes 
should  he  taken  there  at  all.  The 
only  argument  ever  adduced  in 
favour  of  taking  little  or  ignorant 
children  to  the  house  of  God  is  that 
derived  from  the  ibrce  of  habit.  ISo 
one  expects  them  to  derive  any  im- 
mediate benefit  fi'om  their  attend- 
ance at  public  worship  ;  but  they 
think  it  right  to  inculcate  the  habit, 
— Davids. 

691.     Call     for     a    Children's 
Chapel. — Since    the    institution    of 
the     Simdaj— school    system,    what 
wonderful  changes  has  this  progres- 
sive    priuciple    wi'ought!    .  .  .   All 
these  changes  we  owe  to  this  same 
principle,  which  now,  in  this  age  of 
earnest    thought,     advances     with 
steady  step,  and  asks,  as  a  matter  of 
consistency,    a  separate    service  for 
young  children  ;  and  as  a  matter  of 
convenience  and  economy,   in   some 
places,  a  children's  chapel.  .  .  .  The 
object  we  have  in  view  is  to  make 
the  Sabbath  a  delight,  and  that  the 
whole  of  it  may  be  so,  this  substi- 
tute for  the  ordinary  public  worship 
is  proposed.     So  popular  is  this  se- 
parate   service,  that  elder  childi'en 
beg  hard  to  stay.     On  every  hand 
the    prejudice  against  it   is   giving 
way,  and  many  ministers  are    not 
only  consenting  to  its  adoption,  but 
taking  their  turn  in  its  performance, 
becoming,  like  the  venerable  Charles 
of  Bala,  as  '■'■  chiLdi'en  for  the  chil- 
dren's   sake;"    or,    as  the   tender- 
hearted   Doddridge,    who   said,    ''I 
am  not  ashamed  of  these  little  ser- 
vices,   for    I    had  rather   feed    the 
lambs  of  Christ  than  rule  a  king- 
dom."—"  T/ie   Infant- Class. '^     By 
Charles  Reed,  Hackney. 


250 


STJNDAT   SCHOOL  WORLD. 


692.  Texts  for  Preachers. —  Our 
Commission.  —  "  Feed  my  lambs." — 
John  xxi.  15.  Our  Motire. — "In- 
asmuch as  ye  have  done  it  unto  one 
of  the  least  of  these  My  brethren, 
ye  have  done  it  unto  Me." — Matt. 
XXV.  40.  Our  Iiespo7isihility . — 
"  For  they  watch  for  your  souls,  as 
they  that  must  give  account,  that 
they  may  do  it  with  joy,  and  not 
with  grief." — Heb.  xiii.  17.  Our 
Strenqth. — "  Our  sufficiency  is  of 
God."— 2  Cor.  iii.  5;  "I  can  do 
all  things  through  Christ  which 
strengthened  me." — Phil.  iv.  13. 
Our  Prejyaration. — "  Study  to  show 
thyself  approved  unto  God,  a  work- 
man that  needethnot  to  be  ashamed." 
— 2  Tim.  ii.  15.  Our  Success. — 
*'He  that  goeth  forth  and  weepeth, 
bearing  precious  seed,  shall  doubt- 
less come  again  with  rejoicing, 
bringing  his  sheaves  with  him." — 
Psalm  cxxvi.  6. 

693.  Another  Plea  for  Separate 
Services, — Services  adapted  to  chil- 
dren can  alone  be  expected  to  beget 
among  the  young  the  habit  of  at- 
tending public  worship.  .  .  .  Separate 
services  can  alone  speak  with  chil- 
dren to  God,  or  speak  for  God  to 
children.  .  .  .  There  is  no  abstract  or 
absolute  God's  house.  .  .  .  God's 
house  is  that  spot  or  structure  which 
to  our  hearts  is  a  meeting-place 
with  God.  The  building  which  is 
"  amiable  "  to  the  Christian  through 
associations  of  God's  presence  there- 
with, is  not  lovely  to  the  mind  that 
has  not  connected  with  it  correspond- 
ing thoughts. — "  Separate  Services,^ 
hij  the  Rev.  Samuel  Martin,  West- 
minster, England. 

694.  Special  Services  for  Chil- 
dren.— In  England,  the  question  of 
proper  religious  services  for  children 
has  long  attracted  attention,  and 
been  a  fruitful  theme  of  discussion. 


For  a  third  of  a  century  some  of  the 
ablest  writers  for  the  Sunday-school 
cause,  in  that  country,  have  earnestly 
advocated  a  system  of  separate  or 
special  services,  for  worship  or 
preaching,  or  both,  suited  to  the 
capacity  or  needs  of  the  young,  as 
essential  to  the  full  religious  culture 
of  those  now  in  the  Sunday-school. 
Such  services  have  been  Unding 
more  favour  as  their  influence  has 
become  better  known.  Within  a 
few  years  past,  the  evangelistic 
labours  of  the  Rev.  E.  P.  Hammond, 
among  children  in  Great  Britain, 
have  called  new  attention  to  the 
value  of  children's  meetings  for  in- 
quiry, or  prayer,  or  to  hear  preach- 
ing, or  to  join  in  acts  of  worship; 
and  even  where  the  immediate  re- 
sult of  the  meetings  conducted  by 
the  evangelist  have  not  met  the  ex- 
pectations of  lovers  of  the  children, 
much  good  has  come  of  later  gather- 
ings of  similar  character,  under  the 
quieter  lead  of  the  parish  pastor  or 
some  of  his  home  helpers.  And  now, 
reports  of  such  meetings,  conducted 
successfully,  and  with  rich  accruing 
blessings,  under  the  oversight  of 
"The  Children's  Special  Servico 
Mission,"  or  of  individual  workers, 
in  particular  localities,  find  a  fre- 
quent place  in  the  Sunday-school 
periodicals  of  the  old  world;  and 
this  mode  of  providing  for  the 
children  is  joyed  over  by  many  as 
furnishing  the  "missing  link"  be 
tween  the  Sunday-school  and  the 
sanctury . — Trumbull. 

695.  The  Call  for  It.— The  pro- 
priety of  such  a  service  would  hardly 
be  questioned  but  for  the  latent 
heresy  in  the  Church  as  to  the  capa- 
bilities of  childhood  and  the  value  of 
eflbrts  to  save  the  young — the  heresy 
which  manifested  itself  when  the 
disciples  much  displeased  Jesus  by 
standing  between  Him  and  the  dear 
children  brought  by  anxious  mothers 


STJITDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


251 


for  His  blessing,  and  "wMcIl  lias 
never  wholly  died  out  from  among 
Christ's  people.  But,  in  view  of 
this  heresy,  it  may  be  well,  while 
urging  the  children's  claim  to  the 
sanctuary  services  for  at  least  one 
half-Sabbath  in  the  month,  to  make 
mention  of  a  few  important  truths. 

I.  Children  are  not  at  present 
properly  prorAcled  for  in  the  ^^  re- 
gular^' Sabbath  services  which  they 
are  expected  to  attend.  "  The  public 
services  of  the  Lord's-day  do  not 
meet  the  emergency,"  says  a  well- 
known  English  writer  on  this  sub- 
ject. "  Preaching,  with  a  few  happy 
exceptions,  overshoots  the  juvenile 
portion  of  the  congregation.  The 
long,  dry  sermons  which  they  often 
hear  from  Sunday  to  Sunday  rather 
tend  to  associate  feelings  of  distaste 
in  their  minds  with  the  services  of 
the  temple,  than  to  render  the  day 
to  them  '  a  delight — the  holy  of  the 
Lord  and  honourable.'  "  "  How 
much  of  pubKc  preaching  is  utterly 
unintelligible  and  useless  to  them !  " 
says  the  veteran  American  Sunday- 
school  pastor,  in  an  appeal  in  behalf 
of  the  children.  ''  Often,  necessarily, 
of  subjects  beyond-  their  reach. 
Often,  unnecessarily,  in  language 
which  they  cannot  comprehend." 
Indeed,  so  prominent  is  the  lack  for 
children  in  the  ordinary  sanctuary 
services,  that  not  a  few  distinguished 
Christian  educators  have  questioned 
the  propriety  of  taking  children  to 
church,  while  no  provision  is  there 
made  for  their  instruction.  "  I  am 
by  no  means  sure,"  said  President 
Sears,  of  Brown  University,  "of 
the  good  effect  on  children  of  sitting 
in  listlessness,  and  acquiring  habits 
of  inattention  in  the  house  of  God, 
when  nothing  is  offered  to  them  from 
the  pulpit,  and  they  are  not  ex- 
pected to  understand,  or  to  have  a 
part  in,  the  exercises  of  worship." 
In  like  doubt,  the  Rev.  Newman 
Hall,    as  chairman  of  the   English 


Congregational  Union,  inquired  in 
his  address  at  the  autumnal  meeting 
in  Sheffield,  in  1866,  "  Should  Httle 
children  be  encouraged  to  attend  our 
public  services  ?  If  those  services 
are  suited  for  adults  will  the  chil- 
dren be  interested?  and,  if  not,  is 
it  likely  they  will  love  the  house 
and  day  of  God."  With  more  of 
positiveness,  a  prize  essay  of  the 
London  Sunday-school  Union  has 
declared  distinctly  against  "the 
practice  of  taking  little  or  ignorant 
children  to  the  public  services  of 
the  sanctuary,"  adding  in  pertinent 
suggestion,  what  may  be  thought- 
fully considered  even  by  those  who 
are  as  yet  unwilling  to  give  it  ap- 
proval: ""What  habits  are  really 
formed  by  this  practice  ?  The  habits 
of  sleeping,  of  inattention  and  list- 
lessness, of  day-dreaming  and  vain 
thoughts,  and.  of  dislike  and  aver- 
sion to  the  Sabbath  and  the  sanc- 
tuary. These  habits  are  more  or 
less  formed  in  every  child  so  trained, 
and  cling  to  them  in  after  life  with 
an  alniost  unconquerable  force. 
Whence  arise  the  complaints  so 
often  reiterated  by  pious  persons,  of 
wandering  thoughts,  distracted  at- 
tention, incapability  of  fixing  their 
minds  on  the  preacher,  but  from  the 
fact  that  for  many  years  in  early 
life  they  were  forming  the  habit  of 
hearing  without  attending — of  sit- 
ting statue-like,  without  an  efibrt 
to  understand  or  to  remember  ?" 
Would  it  not  be  well  if  so  sad  a 
lack  were  well  supplied  ? 

II.  The  Church  has  a  duty  of 
preaching  Christ  to  the  children,  in 
addition  to  the  instructions  of  the 
parent  andthe  Sunday -schoolteacher. 
The  young  are  the  larger  as  well  as 
the  more  impressible  portion  of  the 
entire  community.  They,  surely, 
should  not  be  overlooked  in  the 
effort  to  "preach  the  Gospel  to 
every  creature."  Family  religious 
instruction  is  most  deplorably  defi- 


252 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


cient  in  even  the  most  thorouglily 
evangelized  communities ;  while  in 
neighbourhoods  unblessed  by  the 
ministrations  of  the  Gospel,  the 
children  receive  almost  no  ' '  nurture 
and  admonition  of  the  Lord."  Since 
the  first  family  there  have  been  sad 
defects  in  the  best  households,  and 
the  Church  has  been  needed  to  sup- 
plement— although  never  to  abro- 
gate— the  family  institution.  He 
■would  be  a  presumptuous  father 
who  would  willingly  dispense  with 
the  agency  of  the  Church  and  its 
ordinances  in  the  religious  training 
of  his  offspring.  The  Sunday-school 
supplies,  in  a  measure,  an  essential 
lack  in  the  family  for  the  spiritual 
culture  of  the  young.  "  The  one 
may  give  the  advantage  of  solitary 
religious  teaching ;  the  other  alone 
engrafts  upon  this,  and  adds  to  this, 
the  social  benefits  and  opportimities 
of  pleasant  religious  relations  and 
religious  influences  in  association. 
Accordingly,  the  perfect  scheme  and 
the  perfect  operation  are  only  to  be 
found  in  the  combination  of  the 
two."  But  the  Sunday-school  should 
not  be  entirely  disconnected  from 
other  services  of  the  Lord's  house. 
It  should  look  to  their  identification 
with  the  people  of  God  in  all  the 
temple  ministrations.  The  command, 
^'  Feed  my  lambs,"  should  be  ac- 
cepted as  binding  on  the  ministry 
and  the  entire  Church,  as  well  as  on 
the  parent  and  the  special  teacher. 
The  Word  of  Truth  should  be ' '  rightly 
divided"  from  the  pulpit  to  the 
children.  Hence,  such  intermediate 
services  as  tend  to  this  consumma- 
tion, and  link  the  Sunday-school  to 
other  exercises  of  the  sanctuary,  are 
liliely  to  promote  the  true  welfare  of 
young  and  old,  the  salvation  of 
souls,  and  the  honour  of  the  Great 
Head  of  the  Church. 

III.  The  giving  to  children  a 
share  in  church  services  is  no  new 
idea  of  modern  innovators.     It  is  an 


old-time  custom,  to  he  venerated  for 
its  antiquity  hy  lovers  of  the  ancient 
landmarks.  T.  H.  Home  says,  in 
his  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures,  that  at  the  Feast 
of  the  Passover  the  Jews  were  ac- 
customed, during  the  celebration  of 
that  most  sacred  festival  of  the  year, 
to  clear  the  tables,  "that  the  cliil^ 
dren  might  inquire,  and  he  instructed 
in  the  nature  of  the  feast.  The 
text  on  which  they  generally  dis- 
coursed was  Deut.  xxvi.  o-ll." 
When  Moses  was  commanded  to 
summon  all  Israel  ' '  to  appear  before 
the  Lord,"  to  hear  the  reading  of 
the  Law,  he  was  told  of  God  to 
"gather  the  people  together,  men 
and  women  and  children,^  and  when 
Joel's  inspired  cry  was  to  "  blow  the 
trumpet  in  Zion,"  to  "  call  a  solemn 
assembly,"  and  to  gather  the  people, 
he  did  not  forget  the  injunction, 
"  Gather  the  children,"  for  these 
were  never  ignored  in  the  plans  of 
the  theocracy.  It  was  no  meaning- 
less utterance  in  which  David  gave 
thanks  to  God :  "  Out  of  the  mouth 
of  babes  and  sucklings  hast  Thou 
ordained  strength" — or,  as  Jesus 
rendered  it,  when  He  approved  the 
children's  worship  in  the  temple, 
"  perfected  praise." 

IV.  In  all  study  of  Church  history ^ 
it  ivill  he  found  that  lohen  Zio7i  has 
prospered,  her  children  have  heen 
diligently  ^'' tauglit  of  the  Lord^"* 
ivhile  in  her  days  of  sloth,  her  j^vo- 
jjhets  have  lamented  that  ^^the  younff 
children  lack  bread,  and  no  man 
hreaketh  it  unto  them.^'  After  the 
Jewish  captivity,  it  was  a  popular 
saying  among  the  scattered  people 
of  God,  that  "Jerusalem  was  de- 
stroyed because  the  instruction  of 
the  young  was  neglected;"  and 
again,  it  was  declared  that:  "  Even 
for  the  rebuilding  of  the  temple,  the 
schools  must  not  be  interrupted.'* 
Those  branches  of  the  Christian 
Church  which  have  held  the  faith 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL  WORLD. 


253 


in  its  purity  in  seasons  of  general 
relis'ious  declension,  have  almost  in- 
variably been  those  wliich,  like  the 
Waldenses  and  Morayians,  have 
given  prominence  to  the  public  re- 
ligious instruction  of  the  young ; 
while  the  Jews  and  Eomanists,  who 
have  surprised  the  world  by  their 
hold  on  the  faith  of  succeeding  gene- 
rations, have  relied  for  success  more 
on  their  work  among  children  than 
upon  all  other  endeavours  to  per- 
petuate their  peculiar  ^dews.  It 
was  in  full  recognition  of  the  time- 
honoured-custom  of  instructing  the 
ehildren  in  the  sanctuary,  that  the 
church  at  Roxbiuy,  Mass.,  of  which 
E,ev.  John  Eliot,  the  Indian  apostle, 
was  pastor,  declared  by  its  record, 
'^In  1674,  6th,  10th  month,"  that 
"This  day  we  restored  a  ^jn'wzzVu'e 
practice  for  y®  training  up  of  our 
youth,"  and  then  described  the 
assembling,  "  every  Sabbath  after 
morning  exercise,"  of  the  children, 
to  be  examined  by  the  elders  not 
only  ''in  the  Catechism,"  but  in 
"wliatever  else  may  convene."  And 
it  was  in  a  similar  spirit  that  a  few 
months  later  ' '  the  Church  in  Nor- 
wich, in  Connecticut  Colony,"  re- 
gretting the  "great  degree  of  dan- 
gerous neglects  of  that  which  ought 
to  be  for  the  prevention  of  apostasie," 
solemnly  renewed  a  covenant,  the 
first  clause  of  which  was :  "  That 
our  children  shall  be  brought  up  in 
the  admonition  of  the  Lord,  as  in 
our  families,  so  in  public  ;  that  all 
the  males  who  are  eight  or  nine 
years  of  age,  shall  be  presented  be- 
fore the  Lord  in  His  congregation 
every  Lord's-day  to  be  catechised, 
until  they  be  about  thirteen  years  in 
age."  And  such  proofs  "might  be 
multiplied  indefinitely  of  the  anti- 
quity of  public  services  for  the  re- 
ligious culture  of  the  young. 

Y.  Special  sanctuary  services  for 
the  children,  in  one  form  or  another, 
are  being    clearly  recognised  as  a 


necessity  in  the  Christian  Churchy 
and  are  finding  favour  with  those 
most  experienced  in  them.  jN^early 
twenty  years  ago,  a  prominent  Eng- 
lish pastor,  who  had  been  highly 
successful  as  a  preacher  to  children, 
while  admitting  the  lack  of  provi- 
sion for  the  young  in  ordinary  Sab- 
bath arrangements,  declared :  "Until 
the  plan  of  separate  services  can  be 
effectively  adopted,  that  of  special 
services  will  be  the  only  means  to 
remedy  the  defect."  The  Eev.  E. 
Spooner,  in  his  admu'able  work, 
"Parson  and  People,"  describes  his 
successful  attempt  of  a  children's 
service.  Together  with  portions  of 
the  prayer-book  service,  ' '  two  hymns 
are  sung  at  due  intervals,  and  then 
a  sermonette,  illustrated  with  anec- 
dotes, and  even  with  pictures,  fol- 
lows ;  all  is  attention,  the  children 
enjoying  thoroughly  the  service,  .  .  . 
and  leaving  the  school  with  an  im- 
pression of  having  joined  in  what 
they  could  understand,  and  of  having 
heard  what  they  could  remember."  Mr. 
Spooner  adds  the  testimony  of  others 
who  have  tried  the  experiment  and 
become  convinced  of  the  permanent 
value  of  such  services — in  one  in- 
stance after  a  twelve  years'  trial. 
In  our  own  country,  many  pastors 
have  long  held  occasional  preaching 
services  for  the  children  in  the  sanc- 
tuary, and  many  ecclesiastical  bodies 
have  warmly  commended  the  exten- 
sion of  this  practice.  Bishop  Janes 
is  said  to  have  remarked,  in  a  Me- 
thodist Episcopal  Conference,  that 
' '  the  time  is  coming  when  there  will 
be  two  sermons  preached  to  children 
and  youth  where  there  is  one  to 
adults,"  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Tyng 
declares:  "If  every  pastor  would 
give  one  sermon  on  every  Sunday, 
especially  addressed  to  the  young, 
and  designed  and  prepared  to  teach 
them,  he  would  find  himself  enlarg- 
ing his  direct  usefulness  in  this  par- 
ticular work,  and  equally  advancing 


254 


SmSTDAT   SCHOOL  WOELD. 


the  value  and  benefit  of  every  other 
class  of  his  public  and  private  labours 
in  religious  instruction  also."  In 
many  of  our  larger  cities  where  there 
are  two  sessions  of  the  Sunday-school, 
the  second  is  given  up  to  general 
exercises,  with  addresses  from  the 
pastor,  or  superintendent,  or  other 
competent  instructors,  and  with  a 
part  assigned  to  the  children  in  wor- 
ship. There  are  not  a  few  intelli- 
gent observers  of  the  signs  of  the 
times,  who  believe  that  soon  a  full 
Sabbath  service  for  the  children  will 
be  as  common  in  the  Christian  Church 
as  the  Sunday-school  is  now,  and 
that,  in  conducting  it,  more  or  less 
of  such  exercises  as  are  here  pre- 
sented will  be  found  of  special  value. 
In  view,  then,  of  the  present  neces- 
sities of  the  children,  of  their  claims 
on  the  Church,  of  the  teachings  of 
the  Bible  with  reference  to  them, 
of  the  approved  practices  of  God's 
people  in  earlier  days,  and  of  the 
results  of  more  recent  experiment, 
it  is  surely  not  unreasonable  to  ex- 
pect that  at  least  one  half-Sabbath 
in  each  month  shall  be  given,  even 
now,  to  such  a  sanctuary  service  for 
the  young  as  is  here  commended  and 
illustrated,  even  though  the  Church 
is  yet  unprepared  to  accept  the  views 
of  those  large-hearted  Christ  follow- 
ing leaders  in  its  ministry,  who  see 
and  urge  the  importance  of  provid- 
ing services  at  which  the  children 
may  worship  in  God's  house,  and 
receive  the  Word  of  Truth  from  the 
lips  of  His  ambassador  on  the  return 
of  each  Lord's-day  of  blessing. — 
Trumhull. 

696.  How  to  Conduct  It.— The 
idea  of  a  Children's  Bible  service 
being  admitted  as  good,  it  is  yet 
necessary  that  the  idea  be  properly 
carried  out,  else  the  labour  is  lost — 
and  well  is  it  if  there  be  no  worse 
result.  That  the  Sunday-school  con- 
cert has  been  often  perverted  and 


abused  by  reliance  on  silly  exer- 
cises or  sillier  speakers,  uiitil  it  was 
little  above  the  ''moral  drama"  in 
its  tone  and  tendency,  can  no  more 
be  denied  than  that  the  pulpit  has 
had  some  very  poor  and  some  sadly 
heretical  preachers  in  it,  while  words 
of  Divine  Truth  have  been  wrested 
by  them  "that  are  unlearned  and 
unstable  "  "  unto  their  own  destruc- 
tion." But  it  would  be  surely  un- 
wise to  condemn  a  service  for 
searching  the  Scriptures,  or  to  ob- 
ject to  the  ministry  or  the  Bible, 
because  of  abuses  of  that  which  Goi 
has  approved.  It  may  be  well,  how- 
ever, to  suggest  a  few  points,  as 
worthy  of  note  in  arranging  for  and 
conducting  the  children's  service. 

I.  The  Bible  sliould  he  the  teat- 
book  of  the  service.  Children  Icve 
variety,  and  are  entitled  to  it.  But 
there  is  ample  material  in  the  Bible 
to  gratify  their  proper  desire  for 
diversity,  that  is  adequate  to 
furnish  lessons,  "  new  and  old," 
which  edify  while  they  interest,  and 
are  "profitable"  to  moke  "wise 
unto  salvation  through  faith  which 
is  in  Christ  Jesus."  The  BiUe  is 
little  enough  studied  at  the  best. 
Its  beauties  are  unfamiliar  to  too 
many  who  have  long  had  it  at  hand. 
The  children  need  its  holy  lessons, 
and  in  the  few  public  services  for 
their  benefit,  they  are  entitled  to 
the  privileges  of  its  study  and  re- 
citation. Let  them  learn  miscella- 
neous selections  for  the  day-school 
or  the  home  circle,  but  in  their 
sanctuary  service  let  them  rejoice 
in  what  God  has  prepared  for  them. 
The  only  excuse  which  charity  can 
furnish  for  pastors  and  superinten- 
dents who  so  often  substitute  other 
lessons  for  the  Bible  in  this  service, 
is,  that  they  are  themselves  igno- 
rant of  the  adaptiveness  of  Scripture 
to  such  exercises.  It  is  not  too  much 
to  say  that  the  widest  experience 
has  shown  that  Scripture  recitations 


STJKDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


255 


may  he  made  more  permanently 
attractive,  while  far  more  impres- 
sive and  profitable  to  those  of  all 
ages,  than  the  best  of  miscellaneous 
selections.  Occasionally,  a  Scripture 
truth  may  be  easiest  committed  by 
the  infant  class  in  verse,  or  a  stanzas 
or  so  of  a  hymn  may  be  added  in 
illustration  of  the  quoted  text,  but 
the  necessity  of  using  other  lan- 
guage than  the  Bible  in  the  service 
is  rare,  for  it  ■will  be  found  in  the 
end,  as  a  prominent  Bible  student 
has  said,  that  "  God  knows  best 
how  to  write  a  book  for  His  own 
children,"  or  as  a  foremost  Sunday- 
school  worker  has  declared,  as  the 
result  of  his  experience  among  the 
little  ones:  "  God  never  made  any- 
thing more  attractive  to  the  children 
than  the  Bible." 

II.  The  singing  should  be  care- 
fully looked  to.  It  will  naturally 
have  prominence  in  such  a  ser^dce, 
and  this  is  well,  for  it  is  the  choicest 
mode  of  praise  on  earth  or  in  heaven  ; 
and  "it  is  good  to  sing  praises  unto 
our  God ;  for  it  is  pleasant ;  and 
praise  is  comely."  Sunday-school 
music  is  a  recognised  power  in  our 
land.  It  has  already  driven  from 
our  streets  in  great  measure  the 
vulgar  melodies  which  were  before 
so  rife.  It  has  lightened  many  a 
heavy  burden  in  homes  of  poverty 
and  sorrow,  and  has  drawn  multi- 
tudes to  the  house  of  God,  and  in- 
strumentally  not  a  few  to  the  fold  of 
Jesus.  Sharp  criticisms  have  been 
made  with  obvious  propriety  on 
particular  hymns  or  tunes,  or  classes 
of  either,  but  none  who  are  fair- 
minded  and  well-informed  can  fail 
to  commend  this  music  as  a  whole, 
as  comparing  most  favourably  in 
devotional  character  and  in  Chris- 
tian tone  and  taste  with  that  gene- 
rally found  in  collections  for  adults, 
or  heard  from  fashionable  choirs. 
But  care  should  be  taken  in  the 
selection  of  hymns  and  tunes  for  the 


monthly  meeting.  An  appropriate- 
ness to  the  time  and  the  theme  of 
the  service  should  be  manifest  in  all 
that  is  sung ;  and  nothing  should 
be  given  out  unless  it  is  likely  to 
prove  a  help  to  the  children  in  their 
service  of  worship,  and  in  their  gain 
of  profitable  impressions  from  the 
lessons  of  the  day. 

III.  Great  caution  should  he  oh- 
served  as  to  the  sjieaJiers — if  any  are 
admitted.  There  are  many  machine- 
talkers  at  hand  for  such  an  occasion, 
ready  and  anxious  to  exercise  their 
gifts.  Some  have  mirth- provoking 
stories  with  which  to  set  the  school 
in  a  laugh  ;  others  have  threadbare 
anecdotes  and  illustrations,  abeady 
more  familiar  to  the  children  than, 
the  most  precious  portions  of  the 
Bible  they  have  assembled  to  study. 
Some  are  serious,  but  prosy,  point- 
less, or  long-winded.  Let  none  of 
these  be  called  on.  Allow  no  false 
delicacy  to  prevent  the  passing  them 
by  if  they  are  present.  The  chil- 
dren's eternal  interests  must  not  be 
trifled  with  nor  needlessly  endan- 
gered. It  is  better  to  have  no  speak- 
ing than  that  which  is  profitless, 
and  indeed  it  should  rarely  be  a  re- 
liance, or  made  particularly  promi- 
nent. Bible  recitations  are  more 
satisfactory  to  all  than  most  of  the 
talk  at  such  times.  But  whatever 
is  said  should  be  brief,  pointed,  and 
earnest,  with  a  bearing  on  the  theme 
of  the  day.  He  who  is  not  likely  to 
speak  thus,  should  not  be  heard. 

IV.  The  lessons  should  be  distri- 
buted "  without  partiality.''^  As  a 
rule,  one  scholar  or  class  should  not 
occupy  more  time  in  recitation  than 
is  assigned  to  others.  All  should  be 
treated  as  nearly  alike  as  possible, 
that  neither  modesty  be  endangered 
on  the  one  hand,  nor  envy  or  ill- 
feeling  be  provoked  on  the  other.  Of 
course  this  caution  does  not  apply  to  the 
dividing  of  a  large  school  into  sections, 
for  recitations  at  different  concerts. 


256 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


V.  The  exercises  should  not  par- 
take of  the  character  of  an  exhibition. 
'  Tableaux  or  dramatic  representations 
of  any  kind,  should  not  be  tolerated. 
No  child  should  be  lilted  on  to  the 
platform  or  led  to  the  front,  to  be 
the  gazing  stock  of  the  congrega- 
tion. The  service  is  rather  one  of 
Scripture  recitation  to  the  pastor  or 
superintendent,  who  is  its  leader,  or 
of  direct  praise  to  Jesus,  than  of 
addresses  to  a  miscellaneous  audi- 
ence for  their  approval  or  criticism. 
It  is  marred  by  whatever  calls  par- 
ticular attention  to  the  manner  of 
presenting  the  truth,  or  to  the  per- 
son presenting  it ;  and  the  injury  is 
likely  to  be  considerable  to  the 
scholar  who  faces  the  smiles  of  an 
admiring  audience,  or  perhaps  re- 
ceives the  murmur  of  gentle  applause, 
and  is  commended  in  the  local  paper 
as  having  "rendered  her  part  ad- 
mirably, throwing  into  it  much 
lieart  and  feeling,"  or  as  having 
"  given  with  mucb  oratorical  effect" 
Ms  impressive  "  declamation." 

YL  The  children  should,  as  far  as 
practicable,  have  a  share  in  all  parts 
of  the  service.  In  the  singing  they 
will  naturally  be  prominent.  Thej^ 
should  join  or  alternate  witb  the 
leader  in  Bible  reading.  Even  in 
prayer  their  voices  may  properly  be 
heard.  Some  superintendents  pray 
in  simple  language,  and  have  the 
children  repeat  after  them  each 
'clause  as  it  is  uttered.  In  other 
cases,  the  Lord's  prayer  may  be 
used  in  concert  at  the  close  of  ex- 
temporaneous prayer. 

YII.  The  entire  service  should  he 
a  unit,  tending  in  all  its  parts  to  the 
enforcing  of  a  single  great  thought. 
Two  hundred  children  may  recite 
two  hundred  disconnected  texts  in 
such  a  way  as  only  to  confuse  the 
hearers,  and  to  send  them  from  the 
service  with  no  well  defined  idea  of 
the  object  of  the  meeting,  or  the 
nature  of  the  truth  presented,.     On 


the  contrary,  if  the  Bible  reading, 
the  singing,  the  prayers,  the  re- 
marks of  each  speaker,  and  all  the 
recitations,  have  reference  to  the 
one  theme  of  the  day,  all  present, 
from  the  youngest  to  the  most  ma- 
ture, are  likely  to  be  seriously  im- 
pressed by  the  truth  of  that  theme, 
and  to  carry  it  away  in  the  mind, 
where,  with  God's  blessing,  it  may 
be  productive  of  that  faith  which 
"  Cometh  by  hearing."  The  mind 
cannot  grasp  a  legion  of  great  truths 
at  a  single  effort,  and  the  rapid  dis- 
connected repetition  of  these  can 
haidly  fail  to  perplex,  rather  than 
to  benefit,  even  the  intelligent  and 
earnest  seeker.  The  hashing  in 
quick  succession  of  all  the  prismatic 
colours  on  a  printed  page,  is  less 
likely  to  clearly  exhibit  its  text, 
than  the  steady  beaming  on  it  of 
the  combined  rays,  throui;h  a  well- 
cut  lens.  So,  both  children  and 
adults  are  better  taught  by  the  sys- 
tematic presentation  of  a  truth  in 
repeated  yet  harmonious  instruc- 
tions, than  by  any  jnmble  of  frag- 
mentary teachings  even  of  Divine 
utterance. 

YIII.  Life  and promj)tness  should 
he  shoivn  in  all  the  exercises.  The 
pulse  of  a  child  beats  quicker  than 
that  of  an  adult.  There  is  with  the 
child  a  natural  repugnance  to  long 
metres.  The  time-honoured  doxo- 
logy  may  be  profitably  learned  and 
sung  by  old  and  young,  but  the  fact 
remains  that  short  metre,  in  praise 
and  prayer  and  all  devotional  exer- 
cises, is  best  adapted  to  edify  the 
children.  l^othing  should  drag. 
Mere  business  matters  should  not 
be  introduced,  lest  they  divert  the 
children  from  the  one  purpose  of  the 
meeting.  Readings,  hymns,  recita- 
tions, should  be  pre-arranged,  that 
there  may  be  a  prompt  passing  from 
one  thing  to  another.  It  is  said  of 
a  prominent  Sunday-school  worker 
of  Illinois,  that  he  never  enters  his 


SUNDAY  SCHOOL  WORLD. 


257 


desk  as  superintendent  without  hav- 
ing every  part  of  his  duty  carefully 
planned.  "  He  knows  just  what  he 
is  going  to  do,  and  the  order  of 
doing  it.  His  chapter  is  selected 
and  read  and  prayed  over ;  his  hymn 
has  also  been  read  over  some  times, 
as  he  remarked,  at  least  twenty 
times,  before  he  feels  that  he  has 
entered  into  the  spirit  of  it,  and  is 
prepared  to  read  it  before  his  school." 
One  coming  thus  prepared  by  study 
and  prayer,  is  likely  to  infuse  his 
spirit  of  love  for  Christ,  for  the 
truth,  and  for  the  dear  children, 
into  all  the  exercises,  and  the  fire 
of  that  divine  love  will  radiate  from 
the  leader  so  as  to  impart  light  and 
life  to  all  who  are  in  the  house,  and 
the  entire  service  will  tend  to  the 
children's  welfare  and  their  Saviour's 
honour". —  Trumbull, 

697.  The  Children's  Part  in 
Worship. — Since  the  day  when  "  the 
chief  priests  and  scribes"  saw  "  the 
children  crying  in  the  temple,"  at 
Jerusalem,  "  and  saying,  Hosanna 
to  the  Son  of  David,"  and  were 
''  sore  displeased,"  and  made  com- 
plaint of  the  sacrilege,  but  were  met 
by  the  Saviour's  assurance  that  this 
worship  had  Divine  approval,  the 
struggle  has  been  going  on  between 
the  friends  and  opposers  of  children 
in  the  temple,  and  it  is  not  quelled 
to-day.  Devout  men,  and  reverent 
Church  dignitaries,  not  a  few,  have 
been  loath  to  consider  children  as 
entitled  to  a  full  share  in  sanctuary 
services,  and  as  fitted  for  an  active 
part  in  God's  public  worship  ;  but 
other  followers  of  Jesus,  ministers 
and  people  alike,  have  been  ever 
glad  to  accept  His  teachings  as  to 
the  place  of  the  little  ones ;  and 
their  response  to  those  censuring 
any  prominence  of  children  in  the 
temple  service,  has  been  in  His  re- 
buking words:  "Have  ye  never 
read,    Out  of  the  mouth  of  babes 


and   sucklings   hast  thou  perfected 
praise  ?" — Trumhull, 

698.  Children's  Meetings.— Our 
children's  meetings  are  too  often  de- 
fective in  the  line  of  unity  of  theme 
discussed.  If  there  should  be  three 
or  four  speakers,  the  probability  is 
that  there  will  be  as  many  different 
topics  as  speakers.  Let,  then,  the 
theme  be  arranged  beforehand,  and  let 
every  speaker  have  the  opportunity 
of  preparation.  If  the  topic  should 
happen  to  be  ''  The  Necessity  of 
seeking  the  Saviour  while  Young," 
let  A,  B,  C,  and  D  each  speak  to 
"The  Necessity  of  seeking  the  Sa- 
viour while  Young,"  not  select  a 
subject  of  his  own,  or  tell  some 
stories  that  have  no  relevancy  to  the 
occasion. — House. 

699.  Spiritual  Eesults  to  Chil- 
dren.— In  the  children's  service  has 
often  commenced  a  work  of  grace 
resulting  in  many  new-born  souls. 
Eight  hundred  and  twenty  persons, 
mostly  young,  were  received  into 
Church  communion  during  less  than 
a  year,  from  one  hundred  Sunday- 
schools  in  Pennsylvania,  from  which 
the  author  of  this  book  has  received 
report.  A  watch  of  the  "  conversa- 
tion "  of  those  young  believers  fur- 
nished witness  that  those  who  had 
previously  received  the  most  faithful 
Christian  instruction  became  the 
most  active  and  eificient  workers  in 
God's  vineyard.  And  the  church 
which  received  the  largest  accession 
in  a  given  time  was  one  which  de- 
voted the  afternoon  of  every  Lord's 
day  to  a  congregational  Bible -school, 
including  all  classes  and  ages,  from 
the  infant  to  the  grandparent. — 
Trumbull. 

700.  Interest  taken  by  Adults. 
— And  there  is  no  place  where  the 
older  ones  will  be  more  ready  to 
take  a  part  in  worship  than  the 
childi-en's  meeting.      For  the   chil- 


258 


SFlfDAT    SCHOOL   WOELD. 


dren's  sake,  from  tlie  influence  of  the 
very  atmospliere  of  tlie  service,  and 
because  tlie  part  assigned  to  them 
is  so  easy  of  performance,  adults, 
whose  voices  are  heard  in  no  other 
religious  meeting,  are  often  sharers 
in  the  recitations  of  the  Sunday- 
school  concert.  In  many  a  New 
England  community,  almost  the  en- 
tire congregation  will  be  found  on 
''  concert  afternoon"  in  the  country 
church,  as  interested  participants  in 
the  ser^dces,  parents  rising  with  their 
children  to  repeat  proof  texts,  and 
even  adult  or  aged  non-professors 
sharing  recitations  with  the  youngest. 
Of  course  the  influence  of  such  co- 
operative Bible  study  will  be  widely 
manifest  for  good.  A  pastor  in  Eas- 
tern Connecticut  declared,  after  a 
few  months'  trial  of  such  a  service, 
that  he  was  surprised  at  the  quick- 
ening it  gave  his  people  in  the  search 
for  truth.  Where  before,  as  he  visited 
in  his  parish,  he  heard  only  of  the 
crops,  or  weather,  or  neighbourhood 
gossip,  he  now  found  all  wide  awake 
about  the  last  concert  lesson,  or  the 
topic  announced  for  the  next.  He 
would  be  asked  what  he  thought  of 
this  passage,  or  where  was  proof  of 
that  doctrine,  or  there  would  be 
serious  words  uttered  as  to  the  great 
theme  of  a  recent  service.  Indeed, 
the  atmosphere  in  which  he  moved 
was  so  diflerent  that  he  could  actually 
write  his  sermons  with  haK  the  time 
and  toilsome  efibrt  before  demanded, 
and  his  own  love  of  the  Bible  was 
correspondingly  increased, — and  his 
experience  is  by  no  means  solitary. 
— Trumbull . 

701.  No  fixed  Plan.— The  exer- 
cises of  the  children's  service  cannot 
be  well  conducted  on  any  stereotyped 
plan.  To  be  fresh,  they  must  be 
often  varied ;  and  this  desirable  va- 
riety is  not  easily  secured  by  minis- 
ters and  superintendents  without  aid 
from  others,  since  it  involves  the  use 


of  more  time  in  preparation  than 
they  can  readily  give  for  such  a 
purpose.  Hence,  it  is  proposed  to 
furnish  specimen  exercises,  which 
have  proved  on  trial  attractive  and 
profitable,  that  they  may  be  at  the 
command  of  all  workers  for  the 
children. — Tru  m  hull. 


SEEMOI^S  TO  CHILDEEII. 

702.  Preaching  to  Children. — - 
Greater  attention  to  the  children  in 
the  public  exercises  of  the  Church  is 
becoming  a  real  necessity.  With 
one-half  of  all  the  members  of  the 
families  of  the  church  and  congre- 
gation before  the  pastor,  as  well  as 
of  the  population,  under  twenty 
years  of  age,  and  these  in  the  most 
hopeful  forming  period  of  life,  the 
question  should  forcibly  arise.  Are 
they  not  entitled  to  a  far  greater 
proportion  of  their  pastor's  labours 
and  efforts  than  they  have  hitherto 
received  ?  The  General  Assembly  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  at  Dayton, 
Ohio,  requested  all  their  pastors  to 
''give  at  least  one-half  of  every 
Sabbath  service  to  the  children  and 
youth."  Bishop  Janes,  in  a  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Conference,  recently 
expressed  the  opinion  that  "  the  time 
is  coming  when  there  will  be  two 
sermons  preached  to  children  and 
youth  where  there  is  one  to  adults ;" 
and  Rev.  Dr.  M'llvauie,  of  Prince- 
ton, took  very  strong  ground  in 
favour  of  preaching  to  children,  in 
the  ]S"ew  Jersey  State  Sabbath-school 
Convention  at  Elizabeth,  two  or  three 
3'ears  ago.  But  we  are  met  with 
this  great  difficulty  at  the  outset  : — 
Many  ministers  say,  "  We  cannot 
learn  how  to  preach  to  children ;"  to 
which  we  reply  confidently,  * '  If  you 
would  only  take  one-quarter  the 
pains  to  learn  liow  to  preach  to  chil- 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


259 


dren  that  you  have  taken  to  learn 
how  to  preach  to  adults,  you  would 
generally  succeed  to  so  great  an  ex- 
tent as  to  astonish  yourself  and  all 
your  friends.  Therefore,  1.  The 
plan  is  practicable.  2.  The  subject 
is  of  overwhelming  importance  and 
imperative  necessity.  3.  Take  a 
practical  interest  in  the  children. 
4.  Set  about  gathering  and  arrang- 
ing materials  for  it.  Have  blank 
books  to  record  every  thought,  fact, 
or  illustration,  and  scrap  books  in 
which  to  file  all  good  illustrations  of 
Scripture  truths  from  newspapers, 
magazines,  &c.  5.  Commence  re- 
gularly and  systematically  to  preach 
to  children ;  for  the  way  to  learn 
how  to  preach  to  children  is — to 
preach  to  children.''^ — Pardee. 

703.  Preaching  to  Children. — 
Eev.  H.  C.  Trumbull,  who  has  ut- 
tered many  -uise  and  timely  words 
Tcspecting  the  work  to  be  done  by 
the  Church  in  training  children  for 
Christ,  and  the  way  in  which  it  is  to 
be  done,  says  these  plain  and  strong 
things  about  preaching  to  children 
in  a  recent  letter  to  the  Advance, 
They  deserve  to  be  pondered.  ' '  The 
man  who  cannot  preach  to  children 
is  not  half  a  minister,  whatever  titles 
may  stand  at  either  end  of  his  name. 
He  may  answer  for  a  chaplain  to  a 
prison  or  an  asylum,  or  as  an  agent 
of  a  benevolent  society ;  or  do  well  as 
a  lecturer  on  any  theme  but  homile- 
tics  in  a  theological  seminary  ;  but, 
oh  !  he  is  never  fit  for  a  pastor.  He 
ought  not  to  palm  himself  on  to  any 
parish  as  such."  And  this  truth  is 
coming  to  be  recognised  by  the 
Church  and  its  minister.  Says  Dr. 
Bushnell,  in  his  recent  discourse  on 
this  theme:  ''And  preaching  only 
to  those  who  are  scarcely  more  than 
half  the  total  number,  is  much  as  if 
we  were  to  set  our  ministry  to  preach- 
ing only  to  bachelors.  The  very 
certain  fact  is,  that  our  schools  of 


theology  will  never  make  qualified 
preachers  till  they  discover  the  exis- 
tence of  children."  Mr.  Spurgeon 
said,  not  long  since,  that,  ' '  for  him- 
self he  felt  that  he  could  preach 
much  more  readily  to  the  low  and 
grovelling  minds  of  grown-up  people 
than  to  the  purer  and  sublimer  minds 
of  chUdren,  who  seemed  to  be  nearer 
heaven,  better  and  simpler."  But 
Mr.  Spurgeon  preaches  to  children. 
Of  course  he  does,  and  with  blessed 
results  in  the  winning  of  young  souls 
to  Jesus.  From  the  Pacific  coast 
come  up  the  earnest  words  of  Wads- 
worth  to  the  same  purport :  "  Ser- 
mons preached  to  adults  have  their 
uses,  but  with  them  alone  the  Gospel 
will  never  subdue  the  world.  A 
Gospel  dispensed  in  the  mother's 
simple  story,  iu  the  father's  earnest 
prayer,  in  the  teacher's  exposition, 
oh  !  these  are  mightier  in  their  con- 
verting power  on  the  young  heart 
than  an  apostolic  sermon  or  a  seraph's 
psalm  upon  congregations  of  Gospel- 
hardened  and  impenitent  men !" 
Good  Dr.  Tyng,  who  has  preached 
to  childi-en  every  week  for  a  score  of 
years,  with  such  results  as  might 
have  been  expected  from  his  labour, 
said  years  ago,  of  the  minister  who 
devoted  himself  to  adults  exclusively, 
' '  I  should  like  to  know  how  Satan 
would  want  that  minister  to  be  more 
completely  mounted  and  equipped  by 
his  side,  Satan  saying  to  the  preacher, 
'  Now,  you  just  stand  there  and  iire 
at  the  grown  people,  and  I  will  stand 
here  and  steal  away  the  little  chil- 
dren— as  the  Indians  catch  ducks, 
swimming  under  them  and  catching 
them  by  the  legs  and  pulling  them 
down.'  "  And  so  says  many  another 
faithful  preacher.  The  latter  day 
glory  approaches,  when  God  "shall 
turn  the  heart  of  the  fathers  to  the 
children."  Soon  the  policy  of  the 
Chui'ch  will  be  changed.  The  taber- 
nacle of  the  Lord's  host  will  no 
longer  be  pitched  by  the  very  edge 


260 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


of  the  lake  of  perdition,  that  its 
ministers  must  spend  their  chief 
strength  in  snatching  at  souls  who 
are  just  going  over  the  hrink,  while 
all  the  way  down  the  road  from  the 
start  of  life,  the  masses  of  little  ones 
are  hurrying  hellward  unwarned  by 
the  appointed  heralds  of  safety.  No, 
whoever  are  stationed  at  that  peri- 
lous brink  to  say  a  last  word  of 
warning  to  hell-bound  adults,  the 
chief  energies  of  the  ministry  will 
be  expended  in  winning  children  to 
another  destiny,  and  guiding  them 
along  another  path.  Meantime,  per- 
haps one  full  Church  service  each 
Sabbath  for  the  Children  is  all  that 
can  be  yet  looked  for.  That  is  little 
enough  for  any  parish. 

704.  The  Claims  of  Children  on 
the  Ministry, — Cannot  children  be 
saved  ?  If  they  are  to  be  saved,  is 
it  in  exception  to  the  rule  that  it 
hath  "pleased  God  by  the  foolish- 
ness of  preaching  to  save  them  that 
believe  ?"  "  How  shall  they  believe 
in  Him  of  whom  they  have  not 
heard  ?  and  how  shall  they  hear 
without  a  preacher  ?"  Parents  may 
neglect  their  duty  towards  their  chil- 
dren, "yea,  they  may  forget:"  "a 
woman  [may]  forget  her  sucking 
child,  that  she  should  not  have  com- 
passion on  the  son  of  her  womb," 
yet  would  not  God  leave  such  home- 
neglected  little  ones  without  hope, 
nor  cause  that  their  teeth  should 
be  set  on  edge  because  of  the  sour 
grapes  which  their  fathers  have  eaten. 
Hence  it  is  that  He  has  sent  ambas- 
sadors with  a  message  as  to  the  right, 
to  "  every  creature  "  out  of  the  way, 
and  has  declared  that  "the  priest's 
lips  should  keep  knowledge,  and  they 
should  seek  the  Law  at  His  mouth, 
for  He  is  the  Messenger  of  the  Lord 
of  hosts."  Are  not  all  who  are  old 
enough  to  be  lost  without  the  know- 
ledge of  Jesus,  entitled  to  hear  of 


Him  at  the  lips  of  His  messenger  ? 
"  Shall  he  [the  minister]  only  teach 
the  adult  mind  and  heart  ?"  says  an 
eloquent  advocate  of  the  children's 
claims.  "Shall  he  say  ? — 'Ho!  ye 
men  and  women  who  can  understand 
introduction,  proposition,  head  and 
points,  peroration  and  application, 
come  ye  and  have  the  truth !'  Shall 
he  say  to  the  simple-minded  ? — ■'■  I 
cannot  come  down  to  you ! '  Shall  he 
say  to  the  little  children  ? — '  I  have  no 
crumbs  for  you !  T  will  preach  only 
here  [in  the  pulpit],  and  in  order  to 
preach  here  I  will  gauge  the  average 
power  of  mind  and  susceptibility  of 
heart  before  me,  and  preach  at  the 
average  man  and  woman !'  Or  shall 
he  care  for  all  his  flock  ?  There  was 
a  Good  Shepherd  once,  who  was  fore- 
told in  prophecy,  who  was  to  feed 
His  flock  like  a  shepherd,  and  gather 
the  lambs  with  His  arm,  and  carry 
them  in  His  bosom,  and  gently  lead 
those  that  were  with  young."  The 
relative  numbers  of  children  in  every 
community  entitle  them  to  a  full 
share  of  pastoral  labour,  and  their 
needs  are  as  great  as  their  numbers. 
"As  many  as  one-half  of  our  pa- 
rishioners are  under  the  age  of  six- 
teen years,  and  one-third,  according 
to  my  bills  for  forty-eight  years, 
die  under  ten,"  is  the  testimony  of 
a  venerable  JSTew  England  pastor; 
doubtless  in  accordance  with  the  ex- 
hibit of  most  parish  registers.  Says 
Dr.  Kirk,  in  pleading  the  cause 
of  Christian  education :  ' '  Christian 
families  have  but  a  small  portion  of 
the  youthful  population  within  their 
circle.  We  must  then  look  mainly 
to  the  pastor  and  the  Sunday-school 
teacher  for  this  important  result." 
"Nor,"  adds  a  recent  clerical  writer, 
' '  can  he  whose  commission  requires 
him  to  feed  the  lambs  as  well  as  the 
sheep,  afford  to  give  up  the  instruc- 
tion of  the  young  to  other  hands." 
By  every  consideration  of  duty,  the 
pastors  are  called    on  to  give  the 


sTrrn)AT  school  world. 


261 


cliildren  their  portion  in  due  season. 
- — IVmnbulL 

705.  Earity  of  Childreii's 
Preachers. — Until  recently,  few  ser- 
mons to  children  have  been  preached. 
No  longer  ago  than  1855,  in  the  pre- 
face to  a  collection  of  sermons  to 
youth  chiefly  from  English  minis- 
ters, published  by  Carlton  and  Por- 
ter, under  the  title  of  "  The  Child's 
Preacher,"  the  editor  remarked,  in 
explanation  of  the  fact  that  but  little 
of  the  material  was  supplied  by 
American  ministers,  "  That  we  have 
not  similar  contributions  from  other 
American  preachers  is  not  because 
we  have  failed  to  solicit  them.  The 
truth  is  that  American  ministers 
have  as  j^et  written  but  few  sermons 
to  children ;  and,  indeed,  have 
preached  quite  too  few."  Even  at 
the  present  time  it  is  not  uncommon 
for  a  pastor  to  refer  to  his  inability 
to  preach  fittingly  to  children,  as 
though  it  were  after  all  a  matter  of 
no  serious  moment.  "  I  confess  I 
cannot  preach  to  children,"  or  ''  I 
have  no  tact  in  that  line,"  is  uttered 
much  as  would  be  the  statement,  "  I 
have  never  studied  Italian,"  or  ''  I 
have  no  special  fondness  for  chemis- 
try or  mechanics."  Says  a  recent 
writer  on  this  theme,  *'  I  once  asked 
a  reverend  doctor  of  divinity,  who 
was  present  in  my  Sunday-school, 
to  talk  to  the  children.  .  .  .  '  I 
never  talk  to  children ! '  That  was 
my  answer,  with  an  expressive  shake 
of  the  head,  and  a  matter-of-sur- 
prise-and-of-course  sort  of  tone,  that 
sent  me  away  humbled  and  sorry  for 
my  offending.  I  felt  as  though  I 
ought  to  apologise."  Is  not  such  a 
treatment  of  this  matter  more  com- 
mon than  excusable  ? — Trumhull. 

706.  Ministerial  Eesponsibility. 
— *'  Jesus  would  not  ha^-e  imposed 
upon  His  ministers  a  duty  which  He 
had  not  given  them  the  ability  to 


perform,"  says  Rev.  Dr.  John  Cotton 
Smith.  "  For  the  pastor  it  is  only 
necessary  that  he  have  the  interest 
which  our  Saviour  Himself  had  in 
the  young,  in  order  to  interest  them 
and  do  them  good.  ...  It  will  be 
impossible  for  them  to  escape  the 
attractions  of  a  warm  heart  earnestly 
enlisted  in  seeking  their  good."  The 
human  mind  is  capable  of  great  ex- 
pansion under  culture,  and  the  man 
who  can  preach  well  to  educated 
adults  can  by  yet  more  of  prayerful 
study  attain  to  the  capacity  to  preach 
well  to  children ;  and  when  there  is 
sufficient  pressure  on  him,  from  his 
instructed  conscience  and  the  de- 
mands of  the  Church,  he  will  be 
likely  to  strive  untiringly,  and  with 
success,  for  this  high  and  important 
attainrnent.  Indeed  there  are  those 
who  think  that  it  is  easier  to  learn 
how  to  preach  to  children  than  to 
adults.  Mr.  Pardee  says,  ''  If  you 
would  only  take  one  quarter  the 
pains  to  learn  how  to  preach  to  chil- 
dren that  you  have  [taken]  to  learn 
how  to  preach  to  adults,  you  would 
generally  succeed  to  so  great  an  ex- 
tent as  to  astonish  yourself  and  aU 
your  friends."  It  is  doubtless  true 
that  '■'■  success  in  this  department  of 
public  speaking  is  to  be  attained  by 
the  self-same  means  that  win  suc- 
cess in  others ;"  and  it  may  be  con- 
fidently hoped  that  ere  long  it  will 
be  as  exceptional  and  absurd  for 
ministers  to  admit  their  inability  to 
preach  to  children,  as  for  them  to 
confess  their  incapacity  to  lead  in 
public  prayer,  or  to  speak  in  such 
tones  as  may  be  heard  half-way 
down  the  church  aisle.  Already  it 
is  very  clear  that,  ''  If  they  have  no 
love  for  children,  and  no  desire 
especially  to  bless  them,  they  are 
manifestly  wanting  in  a  most 
important  characteristic  of  the 
Saviour's  example,  and  an  indispen- 
sable qualification  for  a  useful  and 
successful  ministry." — Tyng. 


282 


SUNDAY  SCHOOL  TTOBLD, 


707.  Inclucements  to  Preaoli  to 
CMldren. — And  it  is  well  for  minis- 
ters to  recognise  the  children's 
claims.  Work  for  them  is  a  good 
pastoral  investment.  "  If  we  would 
retain  the  young  under  our  insti'uc- 
tions  in  after  life,  we  must  interest 
them  now,"  says  a  well-known  Eng- 
lish preacher  to  children.  *'  The 
pulpit  will  not  be  honoured  and  he- 
loved  by  them  in  future  days,  if 
they  now  associate  it  only  with 
thoughts  of  weariness  and  impa- 
tience. At  the  best,  the  chances  of 
keeping  them  when  free  to  act  for 
themselves,  will  be  small  and  peril- 
ous." Not  only  have  the  results  of 
labour  for  children  by  such  special 
preachers  to  them  as  E.  P.  Ham- 
mond, E.  M.  Long,  and  others  of 
their  class,  indicated  the  value  of 
efforts  in  that  direction,  but  the 
ordinary  children's  sermons  of  pas- 
tors who  preach  often  to  their  little 
ones,  have  been  so  blessed  in  soul 
fruits  as  to  give  the  highest  encou- 
ragement to  all  who  are  engaged  in 
this  work. — Trimibull. 

708.  Preaching  to  Children  not 
Easy. — "  That  children  are  a  diffi- 
cult part  of  the  Hock  to  feed,  the 
experience  of  every  one  who  has  ever 
tried  to  do  his  duty  to  them  will 
testify,"  says  Dr.  Todd,  while  evi- 
dencing his  own  success  in  that 
direction,  and  he  adds  the  testimony 
of  Cecil :  "  Nothing  is  easier  than  to 
talk  to  children  ;  but  to  talk  to  them 
as  they  ought  to  be  talked  to,  is  the 
very  last  effort  of  ability.  It  re- 
quires great  genius  to  throw  the 
mind  into  the  habits  of  children's 
minds.  I  aim  at  this,  but  I  hnd  it 
the  utmost  effort  of  ability.  No 
sermon  ever  put  my  mind  half  so 
much  on  the  stretch."  "It  is  no 
easy  think  to  speak  effectively  to 
children,"  says  a  foremost  English 
preacher,  to  the  little  ones ;  and  Dr. 
Newton  adds:  ''I  began  talking  to 


children  when  I  was  sixteen  years- 
old,  which  is  forty  years  ago,  and 
have  cultivated  the  habit  industri- 
ously ever  since.  My  children's  ser- 
mons cost  me  more  time  and  labour 
than  any  that  I  preach."  Thus  agree 
those  who  best  succeed  in  this  de- 
partment of  ministerial  effort,  while 
of  the  frequency  of  failures,  many 
can  speak  in  sympathy  with  a  vigor- 
ous writer  already  quoted :  * '  How 
few  there  are  of  our  clergy  who  can 
hold  the  attention  of  youth  on  any 
subject ;  and  above  all,  how  few  wha 
can  handle  a  religious  truth  so  as  at 
once  to  interest  and  instruct!  Let 
those  be  my  witnesses  who  have 
vainly  sought  such  service ;  or  who 
have  twisted  in  nervous  torment 
under  malapropos  harangues  which 
pass  for  religious  addresses,  but 
which  might  with  equal  truth  be 
labelled  hotch-potch  of  irrelevant  or 
irreverent  stories,  strained  illustra- 
tion, stilted  declamation,  wild  ex- 
hortation, dreary  platitudes,  inflated 
beatitudes,  incomprehensible  magni- 
tudes, and  so  on  through  the  long, 
sad  list  of  styles  that  run  the  round 
of  Sunday-school,  anniversary,  and 
monthly- concert  speeches,  only  here 
and  there  relieved  by  an  address  that 
reaches  the  true  standard  of  sound 
religious  truth  made  pleasant  and 
plain  to  the  minds  of  children  !  Have- 
I  stated  the  fact  too  strongly  ?  think 
a  moment,  and  I  am  sure  you  will 
answer,  Nay." — Trumhull. 

709.  "Where  there's  a  Will 
there's  a  Way." — But  when  it  is 
understood  that  children  must  be 
preached  to, — when  the  command 
"Feed  my  lambs"  is  recognised  as 
equally  binding  and  imperative  on 
the  under  shepherds,  with  that  other 
direction  from  the  same  Divine  lips, 
"This  do  in  remembrance  of  Me," 
no  man  will  venture  to  call  himself 
fitted  for  the  Gospel  ministry,  until 
he  has  learned  how  to  preach  to  chil- 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


263 


dren.     He  will  not  annouiice  himself 
as  a  candidate  for  the  pastorate,  with- 
out full  preparation  for  that  part  of 
his  mission.  In  the  spirit  of  Douglas 
Jerrold's  advice  to  the  young  writer 
in  haste  to  appear  in  print,  he  will 
"not  take  down  the  shutters  until 
there  is  something  in  the  window." 
If  he  cannot  secui-e  needful  instruc- 
tion in  this  direction  in  an  existing 
seminary,  he  will  join  in  the  outcry 
which  will    soon    become    general, 
against    such    ministerial    training 
schools  as  ignore  the  interests  of  a 
vast    and   needy   multitude    to    be 
preached  to.     He  will  not  only  be- 
lieve that  "this  theme  is  certainly 
one  to  which  the  attention  of  can- 
didates for  the  ministry   should  be 
turned  during  their  seminary  course," 
but  he  will  be  inclined  to  say  of  that 
culture  for  the  ministry  which  leaves 
children  out  of  account  in  preach- 
ing, as  a    distinguished  theological 
professor  has  recently  expressed  him- 
seK  concerning  that  which  fails  to 
make  one  a  preacher  to  the  common 
people,  * '  I  would  abandon  the  whole 
of  it.     I  would  drop  it  as  I  would  a 
viper." 


710.  No  Stereotyped  Plan.— 
The  question.  How  shall  children 
be  preached  to  ?  is  no  more  to  be 
answered  dogmatically  than  is  the 
question,  "What  style  of  preaching 
is  uniformly  best  for  adults?  The 
command  of  God  to  His  ministers  to 
feed  His  lambs  is  positive  ;  so  is  the 
direction  to  employ  as  their  food 
"the  sincere  milk  of  the  Word;" 
but  as  to  how,  and  when,  and  in 
what  portions,  that  food  is  to  be 
given  out,  there  are  ever  likely  to 
be  varying  opinions.  All  that  can 
be  done  in  such  a  volume  as  this,  is 
to  indicate  the  views  of  those  who 
have  had  most  experience  in  the 
practice  of  preaching  to  children,  or 
who  have  written  judiciously  on  the 
subject,  and  to  name  certain  essen- 


tial elements  of  success,  and  certain 
common  errors,  or  causes  of  failure. 
—  Trumbull. 

711.  Oliildren  Fed  with  Crumbs 
from  the  Adults'  Table.— There  are 
those,  again,  who,  preaching  no  spe- 
cial  sermons    to    children,    have   a 
"children's  corner  "  in  many  of  their 
discourses  to    adults,  addressing  to 
the  little  ones  words  of  explanation 
of  the  truth  taught  their  parents ; 
telling    them    in    simple    language 
what  is  the  substance  of  the  sermon 
(frequently  to  the  enlightenment  of 
children  of  a  larger  growth),  making 
a  point  for  their  especial  benefit,  or 
illustrating  one  already  made,  by  an 
incident  suited  to  their  comprehen- 
sion.    This  plan  is  warmly  approved 
by  some  who  are  as  yet  unwilling  to 
give  an    entire  service  to  children. 
On  preaching  to  children,  Spurgeon 
says: — "I  believe  I  have  as  much 
as  most  of  my  brethren  sought  out 
simple  v/ords.     Still  we  who  occupy 
the  pulpit  do  not  feed  the  lambs  as 
we   ought.     We   should  give  them 
not   a  word  now  and  then,   but,  if 
possible,  the  whole  discourse  should 
be   such   as    they   can  understand. 
Lads  and  lasses  should  hear  intelli- 
gently under  a  good  shepherd,  and 
the  least  lamb  should  be  able  to  find 
food."  A  good  illustration  of  this  style 
of  digression  for  the  children's  benelit 
is  found  in  a  sermon  of  Dr.    Dod- 
dridge on  the  "  Religious  Education 
of  Chndren." 

712.  Preach  often  to  Children. 
— There  are  ministers  who,  like  Dr. 
Tyng,  preach  to  the  children  each 
Lord's  day.  Their  number  is  in- 
creasing, and  it  would  be  larger  if 
the  public  sentiment  of  the  Church 
permitted.  Others,  lilvo  Dr.  Xewton, 
preach  thus  each  month.  This  in- 
cludes, probabl}^,  the  greater  portion 
of  all  preachers  to  children.  Yet, 
again,  some  preach  bi-monthly  or 
quarterly ;  and  there  are  even  those 


264 


SUin)AY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


■who  preach  a  single  sermon  to  chil- 
dren in  the  year ;  thus  admitting 
the  claim  of  this  class  on  their 
ministerial  labours,  while  making 
prominent  by  such  an  exceptional 
service  their  usual  neglect  of  them. 
These  occasional  sermons  to  children 
were  in  vogue  even  in  the  earlier 
days  of  New  England,  before  the 
young  had  as  large  a  share  as  now 
in  the  labours  of  the  Church ;  but 
then  one  such  sermon  was  ponderous 
enough  to  fui'nish  material  for  a  mul- 
titude of  modern  ser\dces.  For  ex- 
ample, a  published  sermon  to  chil- 
dren, preached  by  Rev.  Samuel 
Phillips,  of  Andover,  Mass.,  in  1739, 
occupies  nearly  one  hundred  close 
printed  pages  of  an  18mo.  volume. 
It  could  hardly  be  expected  or  de- 
sired that  sermons  of  that  length 
be  now-a-days  preached  oftener  than 
once  a-year. — Trumhull. 

713.  Preparation,  —  ''  The  one 
great  requisite  for  effectively  ad- 
dressing any  congregation,"  says  a 
standard  writer  on  this  theme,  *'is 
sympathy  with  the  audience.  .  .  .  He 
must  think  not  in  his  own  accus- 
tomed train,  but  in  theirs.  ...  In 
striving  to  interest  the  children,  let 
us  unclersta7ul  their  minds.  If  any 
minister  is  deficient  in  this,  let 
him  study  them ;  the  materials  are 
ample.  Let  him  listen  to  the  merry 
voices  of  little  ones  at  their  play: 
let  him  talk  to  children,  as  often 
and  as  familiarly  as  they  will  allow 
him:  let  him  even  not  be  above 
reading  the  books  of  those  who  have 
shown  extraordinary  aptness  to  un- 
derstand and  interest  the  young. 
By  these,  and  similar  means,  he  will 
gain  an  amount  of  knowledge,  a 
degree  of  readiness, — aye,  and  an  in- 
tenseness  of  affection,  too, — which 
■wiU  surprise  himself."  Says  a  more 
recent  and  equally  reliable  writer  on 
this  point:  "Dean  Swift,  so  the 
story  goes,  was  wont  to  read  his 


sermons  to  his  cook  before  their 
delivery,  to  find  out  whether  ail  the 
words  in  them  could  be  easily  un- 
derstood by  plain  people.  If  those 
who  desire  to  interest  and  instruct 
children  would  remember  how  they 
tallv:  to  their  own  or  neighbour's, 
boys  and  girls  around  the  family 
hearth-stone,  they  would  have  suc- 
cess where  now  they  have  failure." 

714.  Something  for  the  Children. 
— "  Papa,  are  you  going  to  say  any- 
thing to-day  that  I  can  under- 
stand?" asked  a  little  girl  of  her 
father — a  Massachusetts'  pastor — as 
he  was  setting  out  for  chui'ch  on  a 
Sabbath  morning.  This  tender  ap- 
peal touched  the  lo"sdng  father's 
heart,  and  he  could  not  answer  his 
daughter  nay :  he  could  not  say  to 
his  child  that  she  must  sit  in  penance 
through  all  the  long  service  with 
never  a  word  designed  for  her  in- 
struction or  cheer.  So,  as  he 
preached,  he  said,  *'  And  now,  chil- 
dren, I  will  say  something  to  you 
about  this."  At  once  the  face  of 
every  child  in  that  audience  bright- 
ened. Sleepy  little  ones  started  up  ; 
tired  ones  took  fresh  heart.  Look- 
ing first  at  the  minister,  then  at 
each  other,  again  back  to  him,  they 
were  all  eagerness  for  his  message,  as 
though  now  there  was  something 
else  for  them  than  to  nod  and  yawn 
and  ache  uncared  for ;  and  although 
the  pastor's  following  sentences  to 
them  were  few  and  simple,  doubt- 
less many  felt  as  did  the  child  who 
who  had  pleaded  for  this  attention, 
when,  on  her  return  at  noon,  she 
said  contentedly,  "  Papa,  I  under- 
stood all  that  you  said  this  morn- 
ing." Dear  children !  who  wouldn't 
do  as  much  as  this  for  them  in  every 
sermon? — they  are  gratified  so  easily. 
In  the  instance  quoted,  no  adult  lis- 
tener seemed  the  loser  by  the  added 
words  of  counsel  to  the  young.  In- 
deed,  the  testimony  of  those  who 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


265 


have  tried  or  noted  this  plan  of 
ministering  to  children,  tends  to 
show  that  its  results  as  a  means  of 
grace  to  both  young  and  old  are 
every  way  encouraging.  The  truth 
re-stated  for  children  acquires  often 
a  new  hold  on  parents,  and  the 
coldest  hearts  are  quite  as  likely  to 
he  touched  by  loving  appeals  to  the 
little  ones  about  them  as  by  argu- 
ments addressed  directly  to  their 
maturer  judgments. — Trumhidl. 

715.  Pleasant  and  Profitable. — 
It  is  pleasanter,  as  well  as  more  pro- 
fitable, to  preach  to  children  than  to 
adults.      * '  I   would    rather  be   an 
apostle    to    the    children    than    an 
apostle    to   the    Gentiles,"    says    a 
lover  of  this  work.     And  an  impul- 
sive   and  whole-souled    pastor    has 
said  in  heartiness  :  ' '  I  find  but  little 
pleasure,  comparatively,   in  preach- 
ing to  old  Grospel-hardened  sinners. 
I  preach  to  them,  to  be  sure  ;  preach 
right    at    them ;    preach    Christ  to 
them,  in  love  and  earnestness,  Sab- 
bath after  Sabbath ;  but,  oh !  they 
straighten  up  and  grin  and  take  it 
so  easy,  I  have  to  pray  the  Lord  to 
give  me  patience  that  I  may  bear 
with  them  as  He  does.     But  when  I 
talk  to  the   children    about   Jesus, 
they  hear  me ;  and  as  I  look  down 
into  their  eyes  with  my  heart  full  of 
love  for  them,  they  see  me  and  feel 
with  me.     There  is  a  beauty,  a  love- 
liness in  this  work  I  can  find  in  no 
other."     Dr.  Tyng,  speaking  of  the 
pastor's  "  sweet  solace  of  the  chil- 
dren's relation  to  him,  a  comfort  to 
bis  wearied  spirit,"  says  truly:  "  The 
minister  deprived  of  this  loses  one 
of  the  most  precious  of  the  pleasures  J 
of  his  work." — Triimhull. 


beautiful  and  afiecting  history  con- 
ceivable by  man,  and  there  are  the 
terse  models  for  all  prayer  and  all 
preaching.  As  to  the  models,  imi- 
tate them,  Sunday  preachers ;  else, 
why  are  they  there  ?  consider.  As 
to  the  history,  tell  it.  Some  people 
cannot  read ;  some  people  will  not 
read  ;  many  people  (this  especially 
holds  among  the  young  and  igno- 
rant) find  it  hard  to  pursue  the  verse 
form  in  which  the  book  is  presented 
to  them,  and  imagine  that  those 
breaks  imply  gaps  and  want  of  con- 
tinuity. Help  them  over  that  first 
stumbling-block,  by  setting  forth  the 
history  in  narrative,  with  no  fear  of 
exhausting  it.  You  will  never 
preach  so  well ;  you  will  never  move 
them  so  profoundly ;  you  will  never 
send  them  away  with  half  so  much, 
to  think  of." 


716.  Scriptural  Preaching. — 
Charles  Dickens,  in  commenting  on 
preaching  in  London  theatres,  some 
years  since,  said  on  this  point : — *'  In 
the  New  Testament  there  is  the  most 


717.  Eesults.— Rev.   Dr.    Tyng, 
reporting    in    1860,    his    habit    of 
preaching  iceehly    sermons  to   chil- 
dren, for  then  eleven  years,  testified : 
' '  I  have  considered  no  part  of  my 
work  more  valuable  and  important 
than  this ;  and  certainly  no  portion 
of  it  has  seemed  so  popular  and  ac- 
ceptable to  others.     And  he  added, 
as  the  expression  of  his  conviction  : 
' '  If    every  pastor  would    give  one 
sermon  on  every  Sunday  especially 
addressed  to  the  young,  and  designed 
and  prepared    to    teach    them,    he 
would   find    himself    enlarging  his 
direct  usefulness  in  this  particular 
work,    and   equally   advancing   the 
value  and  benefit  of  every  other  class 
of  his  public  and  private  labours  in 
religious     instruction     also.        The 
parents  and  adults  of  his  flock  will 
learn  as  much,  and  love  as  much  the 
teaching  for  themselves,   when    he 
speaks   to  the  youth    directly   and 
simply,  as  when  he  addresses  them  in 
a    deeper    and    more    mature    dis- 
course."    In  a  recent  note   to  the 
author  of  this  yolume,  this  veteran 


N 


266 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


pastor  says :  "  1  still  abide  in  my 
habit  of  preacbing,  in  series  of  ser- 
mons, to  the  young  on  every  Sunday 
afternoon."  Surely,  his  success  as  a 
minister  of  Christ,  with  a  Church 
numbering  now  fourteen  hundred 
communicants,  and  Sunday-schools 
comprising  one  hundred  and  fifty 
teachers  and  eighteen  hundred  and 
fifty  scholars  ;  the  similar  success  of 
Rev.  Dr.  Newton  in  Philadelphia, 
and  like  results  in  the  parishes  of 
the  sons  of  both  divines,  (all  these 
pastors  giving  eiForts  for  the  children 
marked  prominence  in  pulpit  la- 
bours,) would  seem  to  justify  the 
expressed  opinion  of  Dr.  T.,  as  well 
as  to  indicate  something  of  what 
may  be  expected  in  other  fields  when 
ministers  generally  follow  the  ex- 
ample of  these  workers  for  Jesus, 
and  of  their  blessed  Master,  who 
never  neglected  the  little  ones. 
Neither  of  these  ministers  seems  to 
have  lessened  his  hold  on  adults  by 
his  labours  for  the  young. — Trunibull. 


718. 


The  Rev.  Dr.  Robert 


Boyd  testifies  similarly  of  his  work 
in  the  West:  "During  the  several 
years  of  my  pastorate  in  Chicago  it 
was  my  habit  to  address  the  children 
on  the  first  Sabbath  evenmg  of  each 
month.     The  attendance  was  always 
large,  and  great  interest  was  shown 
not  only  by  the  little  ones,  but  also 
by    their    parents     and    teachers." 
Says  Dr.  Newton:    "I  have  found 
my  children's  sermons  encouragingly 
rich  in  their  results,  so  far  as  regards 
the  spiritual  interests  of  the  young 
for  whom  they  were  prepared,  and 
at  the  same  time  of  frequently  ac- 
knowledged profit  to  the  adult  por- 
tion   of    the    congregation.     1    am 
thoroughly    satisfied    that    labour, 
projjerli/  hestoioed,   in  this   depart- 
ment   of    ministerial    work,    ^jays 
better  than  any  other  in  promoting 
the  great  interests  of  our  Master's 
cause." — Trumbull, 


A  OHANaE  NEOESSAET. 

719.  Children  in  the  Sanctuary, 
— That  some  change  is  needed  in  the 
present    plan    of     taking     Sunday 
scholars  to  public  worship  is  further 
evident  from  the  fact,  that  no  branch 
of  Sunday-school  order  and  discipline 
is  so  often  brought  forward  for  dis- 
cussion  at  our  teachers'  meetings. 
There     is     a     dissatisfaction    with 
existing  .  arrangements    in    almost 
every  band  of  faithful  teachers  ;  they 
feel  that  there  is   an  error   some- 
where.     Plan  after  plan  is  tried, 
each   in    its    turn  d(iiomed  to  fail. 
Teachers,  with  all  their  self-denying 
efibrts  and  untiring  vigilance,  have 
not  yet  discovered  the  way  to  make 
their  scholars  invariably  quiet  in  the 
house  of    God.     Far  more  children 
are  punished  in  Sunday-schools  for 
bad  behaviour  in  public  worship  than 
for  all  other  misdemeanoui's  put  to- 
gether.    Often  is  it  a  severe  trial  to 
a  teacher,  when  the  best  child  in  the 
class,    whose    lessons    are    perfect, 
whose    attendance   is  regular,   and 
whose  interested  eye  and  fixed  at- 
tention in  school  elicit  feelings  of 
hopeful  interest  on  4iis  behalf,   to 
have  those  hopes   blasted  Sabbath 
after  Sabbath  by  reports  of  that  very 
child's  habitual  misconduct  in  the 
house   of   God.     Even  suppose  the 
sole    point    aimed    at    by    teachers 
gained — that  the  scholars  are  quiet, 
never  talk,  never  fidget — we  ask,  is 
that  the  07ily  object  to  be  attained  by 
attendance  at  a  place  of  worship  ? — 
Davids. 

720.  Children  at  Ordinary  Ser- 
vices.— <<  Take  a  child  whose  atten- 
tion is  already  somewhat  tasked  by 
the  morning  school  exercises  into  the 
house  of  God;  keep  him  there  an 
hour  and  a  half,  or  more,  totally 
unemployed — a  state  of  complete 
misery  to  a  child;  punish  him.  for 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


267 


tlie  expressions  of  a  weariness  he  can 
neither  overcome  nor  conceal,  and  in 
tlie  afternoon  tell  him  of  the  pleasure 
there  is  in  the  services  of  religion ; 
I  fear  your  morning  illustrations  will 
more  than  nullify  your  afternoon 
precepts." — Union  Mag.  1844. 

721.  Adaptation. — ''A  Sunday- 
school  teacher  recently  stated  that 
during  seven  years'  attendance  at  a 
place  of  worship,  nearly  every 
Sunday  morning,  with  about  fifty 
scholars  of  the  same  boarding  school, 
he  was  so  uninterested  in  the  ser- 
vices as  never  to  remember  anything 
that  was  said.  The  experience  of 
his  companions  was  the  same  as  his 
own.  Subjection  almost  amounting 
to  inanity  being  required  of  them,  it 
was  felt  to  be  unnatural  and  impos- 
sible, and  they  could  only  obtain  re- 
lief by  indulging  in  mental  occupa- 
tions most  unsuitable  to  the  sanc- 
tuary."—>S'.  S.  T.  Mag.  1846. 

722.  Children  at  Church.  — 
**  Our  Sunday-school  pupils,"  said  a 
speaker,  at  a  late  convention,  ' '  are 
made  up  of  two  classes,  children  of 
church-going  parents,  and  children 
who  have  no  other  moral  or  religious 
guardianship  than  the  Sunday-school 
and  the  Church.  The  children  of 
the  first  class  ought  to  be  taken 
charge  of  by  their  own  parents, 
conducted  to  church  by  them,  and 
made  to  sit  with  them,  or  where 
they  can  keep  an  eye  upon  them." 
To  dispose  of  the  second  class  of 
pupils  is  more  difficult,  but  not  im- 
possible. "  In  the  first  place,"  said 
the  speaker,  "let  the  Church  assign 
to  each  and  every  one  of  them  a 
seat,  which  the  boy  or  girl  shall  re- 
gard as  his  or  her  own,  and  of  which 
he  or  she  shall  not  be  deprived 
without  good  and  sufficient  cause. 
In  the  next  place  let  the  preaching 
be  so  simple  and  direct  that  any  child 
of  ten  years  old,  of  average  intel- 


lect, shall  be  able  to  comprehend  it. 
Let  the  preacher  get  down  from  the 
stilts  of  metaphysics,  and  of  high- 
flown  rhetoric  and  sonorous  adjec- 
tives, and  let  him  so  break  the  bread 
of  life  that  the  children  shall  be 
fed." 


THE 


OPENIN&    OP 
SERVICE. 


THE 


723.  Opening  and  Closing  Exer- 
cises.— Attention  should  be  given  to 
the  opening  and  closing  exercises  no 
less  than  to  those  which  are  more 
prominent  and  central.  No  part 
should  be  so  dull  and  unattractive 
that  the  children  will  long  to  have  it 
done  with,  to  give  place  to  that  which 
alone  is  pleasing.  They  can  be  taught 
to  love  Bible  reading  and  prayer  as 
well  as  the  singing,  if  they  are  wise- 
ly led.  In  many  Sunday-schools 
and  children's  meetings  the  formal 
exercises  at  the  opening  and  close  of 
service  are  an  attraction  to  both 
young  and  old.  This  may  always  be 
the  case,  if  sufficient  attention,  in  a 
right  spirit,  is  given  to  their  prepa- 
ration, and  they  are  properly  used. 
—  Trumbull. 

724.  Opening  Exercises. — The 
opening  worship  should  be  short, 
appropriate,  and  engaging.  A  hymn 
of  praise,  adapted  to  the  minds  of 
children,  animated  and  awakening — 
a  few  words  of  serious  exhortation 
or  address  from  the  superintendent 
to  the  teachers  and  children — a  prayer 
adapted  also  to  youthful  minds,  and 
expressed  in  such  language  and  sen- 
tences as  they  can  perfectly  compre- 
hend and  enjoy  :  these  may  all 
occupy  ten  to  fifteen  minutes,  in  no 
case  to  be  extended  longer.  This 
commencing  work  tests  the  skill  and 


N  2 


268 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL  WOELD. 


tact  of  the  superintendent.  In  it 
Ms  manner  and  Yoice  should  he 
prompt  and  completely  audible  to  all. 
His  own  real  earnestness  should 
command  instant  tranquillity  and 
attention.  If  he  be  truly  qualified 
for  his  post,  he  will  be  heard,  revered, 
and  loved. — Tyng. 


725. 


No  programme  of  fitted 


opening  and  closing  exercises  should 
be  adopted  and  followed  Sabbath 
after  Sabbath.  Some  schools  uni- 
formly have  the  same  person  to  offer 
the  opening  prayer.  It  matters 
little  whether  it  be  the  pastor,  the 
superintendent,  or  a  teacher,  the 
practice  becomes  both  monotonous 
and  wearisome.  The  superintendent 
ought  to  offer  prayer  more  frequently 
than  any  other  person,  but  even  he, 
however  excellent  his  spirit  or  ap- 
propriate his  words,  should  avail 
himself  of  the  help  of  his  pastor  and 
fellow  workers.  The  prayer  should 
always  have  reference  to  the  present 
condition  of  the  school,  and  the  lesson 
of  the  day.  We  subjoin  the  orders 
of  several  schools  in  different  parts 
of  the  country : 

1.  The  school  opens  at  nine ; 
prayer  meeting  for  scholars  and 
teachers  fifteen  minutes  before 
opening  ;  singing  ;  prayer,  followed 
by  the  Lord's  prayer  in  concert; 
singing  again ;  lesson,  forty  minutes ; 
new  scholars  introduced ;  review  of 
the  lesson  by  superintendent;  sing- 
ing ;  a  word  or  two  of  general  talk, 
notices,  distribution  of  papers,  dis- 
missions— girls  going  out  first  one 
Sabbath,  boys  first  the  following. 

2.  Scriptures  read,  generally  by 
the  superintendent,  seldom  by  scholars 
and  superintendent  in  alternation ; 
singing  of  two  hymns ;  prayer,  in 
simple  language,  and  having  reference 

to  the  special  state  of  the  school,  all  hymn. House, 

the    children    uniting    in    concert ; 
singing  of  two  to  four  hymns,  with 


remarks  interspersed  by  chorister  or 
superintendent,  the  girls  occasionally 
singing  a  verse  by  themselves,  and 
the  boys  afterward  by  themselves ; 
lesson  thirty  to  thirty-five  minutes 
in  length ;  five  minutes'  review  of 
the  intermediate  classes  by  superin- 
tendent ;  singing  of  one  or  two  hymns 
bearing  on  the  lesson.  Every  first 
Sunday  in  the  month  is  Missionary 
Sunday,  on  which  day  two  or  three 
speakers,  previously  notified,  and 
therefore  prepared,  speak  on  some 
special  missionary  topic  ;  one-third 
of  the  time  also  given  to  singing ; 
collection  from  the  classes  indivi- 
dually, the  amount  so  raised  stated, 
and  also,  afterward,  the  general 
aggregate;  dismiss  the  boys  by 
classes,  the  girls  eii  masse. 

3.  Teachers'  prayer  meeting  quar- 
ter-to-nine o'clock  ;  at  precisely  nine 
the  beU  is  struck  and  the  door  locked ; 
the  singing  books  have  previously 
been  distributed,  five  in  each  seat,  by 
the  teachers  ;  singing  of  one  hymn, 
and  door  unlocked  so  as  to  admit 
those  who  had  gathered  during  the 
singing ;  door  locked  again  ;  a  Psalm 
or  short  chapter  read,  the  superin- 
tendent taking  the  fio-st  verse,  and 
teachers  and  scholars  the  second,  and 
so  alternately ;  prayer,  closed  with 
the  Lord's  Prayer,  all  uniting  in 
concert;  door  opened  again,  and 
scholars  who  have  gathered  take 
their  places ;  second  hymn,  and  at 
the  tap  of  the  bell  the  librarians  go 
among  the  classes  and  gather  the 
books  brought  in  from  the  last 
Sabbath,  after  which  the  lesson 
begins  ;  the  opening  exercises  take 
about  twenty  minutes,  lesson  fifty, 
during  which  time  the  teachers  are 
not  allowed  to  be  interfered  with 
except  from  the  most  urgent  necessity; 
at  ten  minutes  past  ten  librarians  go 
for  the  books ;  after  this  the  closing 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


269 


THE  PEAYEE. 

726.  Prayer.— 1.  Eecollect  that 
you  are  to  lead  the  thoughts  of 
children, 

2.  Recollect  that  children  have 
wants,  and  difficulties,  and  tempta- 
tions inculiar  to  themselves.  You 
may  best  recollect  them  by  thinking 
what  yours  were. 

3.  Place  yourself,  so  far  as  possible, 
in  the  circumstances  of  the  scholars 
whose  prayer  you  are  leading. 

4.  Don't  forget  that  Christ  desires 
the  immediate  conversion  of  every 
scholar. 

5.  Eemember  the  wants  of  the 
school.  Is  any  scholar  sick  ?  Has 
any  been  injured  lately  by  accident  ? 
Has  any  lost  a  relative  recently  ?  Has 
any  class  a  teacher  ill  or  out  of  town  ? 
Or,  has  any  scholar  been  converted 
or  inquiring  about  conversion  lately  ? 
Eemember  such  cases  especially. 

6.  Use  short  sentences,  and  small, 
simple  words,  that  the  youngest 
scholars  can  understand. 

7.  Speak  slowly,  and  distinctly, 
and  animatedly,  and  loud  enough  to 
be  heard  in  every  part  of  the  room. 

8.  J^specially,  he  brief.  A  prayer 
two  minutes  long,  followed  by  the 
Lord's  Prayer  repeated  in  concert  by 
the  school,  is  long  enough. 

9.  Be  sincere  ;  he  earnest, 

10.  You  will  be  benefited  by  Com- 
posing such  a  prayer  as  will  seem  to 
to  you,  when  quiet  and  thoughtful, 
most  appropriate  to  be  ofiered  in 
leading  the  school. — House. 

727.  Prayer.— It  should  be  a 
pious  teacher^s  Sahhath  morning 
prayer;  no  teacher  would  like  to 
be  excluded  fi'om  joining  it  it;  it 
would  warm  each  heart,  cheer  each 
spirit,  reanimate  drooping  zeal,  and 
help  to  fit  each  for  his  work.  This 
short  but  salutary  exercise  ended, 
the  teacher's  duty  commences  di- 


rectly; he  forgets  himself,  and  at- 
tends to  his  class ;  the  door  may  be 
opened  for  a  minute,  admitting  those 
who  have  arrived  during  the  prayer, 
and  immediately  closed  again.  The 
superintendent  then  commences  with 
a  carefully  selected  portion  of  Scrip- 
ture, not  more  than  ten  verses,  which 
may  be  read  either  by  the  superin- 
tendent, or  by  the  school  simulta- 
neously; or  by  each  taking  alter- 
nate verses.  The  children  should 
be  seated,  with  their  Bibles  open  at 
the  right  place ;  reading  from  them^ 
and  not  looking  at  the  superinten- 
dent. Then  let  not  more  than  three 
verses  of  a  hymn  be  sung ;  the  lines 
should  not  be  given  out,  but  each 
scholar  should  be  provided  with  a 
hymn-book,  or  have  previously  com- 
mitted the  words  to  memory.  Every 
child  and  every  teacher  should  be 
urged  to  sing ;  the  same  tune  and 
the  same  words  should  always  be 
used  together,  for  children  learn  the 
tunes  by  repetition  ;  they  should 
partake  rather  of  the  lively  than 
the  plaintive. — Davids. 


728. 


Let    the    party    who 


offers  the  prayer  speak  slowly,  and 
sufficiently  loud  to  be  heard  in  every 
part  of  the  room ;  earnestness  and 
quietness  of  manner,  with  distinct- 
ness of  utterance,  will  check  rest- 
lessness and  playing  among  the 
scholars  better  than  any  punishment 
that  can  be  inflicted.  Let  not  the 
prayer  degenerate  into  a  sermon; 
for  when  we  are  asking  blessings 
from  God,  we  ought  not  with  the 
same  breath  to  be  directing  the 
scholars.  Let  figurative  language 
be  avoided;  as  children  form  the 
strangest  conceptions  from  many  or- 
dinary phrases.  The  language  can 
hardly  be  too  simple,  or  the  prayer 
too  short ;  the  one  object  of  the  in- 
troductory exercises  is  to  awaken 
the  children's  attention,  to  produce 
at  the  very  commencement  gravity 


270 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL  WORLD. 


and  decorum  in  the  different  classes, 
that  the  spiritual  interests  of  each 
pupil  may  be  promoted,  and  a  good 
foundation  laid  for  future  impres- 
sions and  usefulness. — Davids. 


729. 


It   should  be   offered 


by  a  teacher  who  has  been  requested 
beforehand  to  lead  in  this  solemn  act 
of  worship.  It  should  be  the  chil- 
dren''s  prayer,  not  the  teachers'. 
Therj  have  just  come  from  the 
prayer-room,  perhaps,  where  they 
have  asked  God's  presence  with  them 
while  they  teach.  Teacher,  pray  in 
a  child's  language,  pray  a  child's 
request,  for  a  child's  blessing,  and 
God  will  hear  and  answer  you.  The 
prayer,  too,  should  be  very  direct — 
just  in  the  Hue  of  the  lesson  you  are 
about  to  teach. 


730. 


Prayer  is  the  basis  of 


all  success  in  training  children  for 
<xod's  kingdom  and  service.  The 
Scriptures  everywhere  attach  pre- 
eminent importance  to  prayer.  All 
precedent  shows  the  indispensable- 
ness  and  efficacy  of  prayer.  Those 
parents  who  neglect  it  are  apt  to 
fail  in  their  anxieties  and  exertions 
for  their  offspring ;  whilst  those  who 
avail  themselves  of  this  privilege, 
and  approach  the  throne  with  special 
intercedings,  are  generally  success- 
ful. Let  the  parent  pray  for  his 
children.  Let  him  pray  with  them. 
Let  him  distinguish  them  in  the 
family  devotions.  Let  them  be  taken 
individually  to  the  private  room,  by 
the  father  or  the  mother,  and  there, 
singly  and  alone,  be  prayed  for 
according  as  their  respective  ages, 
circumstances  and  habits,  require. 
Parents  should  have  their  special 
seasons  of  prayer  for  the  conversion 
of  their  children.     An  aged  minister 

in  M ,  all  of  whose  children  are 

now  hopefully  pious,  invariably  ob- 
served their  birthdays  as  seasons  of 
fasting  and  prayer  in  their  behalf. 


731. 


"  As  to  the  prayer^  a 


volume  of  directions  might  be  given, 
and  after  all  the  good  sense  and  dis- 
cretion of  the  superintendent  must 
be  the  main  directory,"  is  the  state- 
ment of  the  Teacher  Taught,  con- 
cerning the  opening  exercises  of  the 
Sunday-school — and  the  remarks  are 
equally  applicable  to  the  children's 
service.  But  the  suggestions  made 
on  this  subject  which  follow  that 
statement  m  the  volume  referred  to, 
can  hardly  fail  to  profit  one  who  is 
to  lead  children  in  their  devotions. 
''  Let  not  the  prayer  degenerate  into 
a  sermon,"  says  a  valued  Sunday- 
school  writer,  *'  for  when  we  are 
asking  blessings  from  God,  we  ought 
not,  with  the  same  breath,  to  be 
directing  the  scholars.  Let  figura- 
tive language  be  avoided,  as  chil- 
dren form  the  strangest  conceptions 
from  many  ordinary  phrases.  The 
language  can  hardly  be  too  simple, 
or  the  prayer  too  short."  The  same 
writer  makes  this  further  suggestion, 
as  to  prayer  for  the  children,  to  fol- 
low a  brief  prayer  for  the  teachers 
and  other  adults:  "Let  the  super- 
intendent offer  a  prayer  with  the 
children,  as  follows :  '  0  Lord  God, 
thou  art  very  great  and  good' — 
then  children  repeat.  *  We  thank 
Thee  for  giving  us  food  to  eat  and 
clothes  to  wear' — children  repeat. 
'  Take  us  under  Thy  kind  care  this 
Sabbath-day' — children  repeat,  and 
so  on  to  the  end.  There  can  be  no 
objection  to  this  prayer  being  a  suit- 
able form  if  preferred ;  it  either  may 
or  may  not  conclude  with  the  Lord's 
Prayer," — Trumbull. 

732.  Do  the  Children  join  in  our 
Prayers  ? — 1.  Is  not  the  prayer 
sometimes  cold,  lifeless,  mechanical, 
as  a  prayer  mill  ?  Does  it  not  enter 
the  soul  like  a  biting  frost,  and  nip 
all  good  desires,  causing  the  child  to 
shrink  from  it  ?  Nothing  can  reach, 
a  heart  but  a  heart.     The  Spirit 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


271 


never  indites  a  heartless  prayer. 
One  Sabbath  evening  a  father  knelt 
down  with  his  household  in  family 
prayer,  and,  touched  with  the  sight 
of  two  dear  little  ones  by  his  side, 
his  prayer  became  unusually  tender 
and  fervent ;  soon  was  heard  a  sob- 
bing ;  it  was  a  little  heart  deeply 
affected  by  the  father's  earnestness. 

2.  Some  prayers  are  tedious  be- 
cause of  their  length.  "  The  long 
prayer  "  in  the  pulpit  is  not  so  try- 
ing to  the  patience  as  the  long 
prayer  in  the  school.  "Without  say- 
ing how  many  minutes  should  be 
allotved,  we  would  say  to  the  teacher, 
*'  Let  thy  words  be  few."  Often  a 
short  prayer  contains  more  than  a 
long  one.  If  you  would  say  all  that 
is  necessary  in  a  few  minutes,  learn 
to  LEAVE  OUT  all  that  is  ii^relevant, 
all  fine  words,  all  personalities,  all 
mannerisms,  all  bits  of  sermonising, 
all  explanations,  all  conclusions  but 
one,  all  vain  repetitions  of  God's 
name, — as,  for  example,  the  dis- 
tressingly frequent  utterance  of  the 
words,  "  0  God."  Use  the  pruning- 
hook,  and  cut  off  redundances — 
those  deadening  excrescences.  Let 
the  words  be  simple,  the  sentences 
short,  and  separated  by  slight  pauses, 
that  others  may  not  only  listen,  but 
follow  in  the  prayer. — Hev.  J  S. 
Pear  sail. 

733.  Believing  Prayer. — Is  it  not 
a  sad  thing  that  we  should  think  it 
wonderful  for  God  to  hear  prayer? 
Much  better  faith  was  that  of  a  little 
boy  in  one  of  the  schools  in  Edin- 
burgh, who  had  attended  a  prayer- 
meeting,  and  at  last  said  to  his 
teacher  who  conducted  it,  ''  Teacher, 
I  wish  my  sister  could  be  got  to  read 
the  Bible  ;  she  never  reads  it." 
*'  Why,  Johnny,  should  your  sister 
read  the  Bible?"  "Because  if  she 
should  once  read  it,  I  am  sure  it 
would  do  her  good,  and  she  would  be 
converted  and  be  saved."     *'Do  you 


think  so,  Johnny?"  ''Yes,  I  do, 
sii',  and  I  wish  the  next  time  there's 
a  prayer-meeting,  you  would  ask  the 
people  to  pray  for  my  sister,  that  she 
may  begin  to  read  the  Bible."  "Well, 
well,  it  shall  be  done,  John."  So 
the  teacher  gave  out  that  a  little  boy 
was  very  anxious  that  prayer  should 
be  offered  that  his  sister  might  begin 
to  read  the  Bible.  John  was  observed 
to  get  up  and  go  out.  The  teacher 
thought  it  very  rude  of  the  boy  to 
disturb  the  people  in  a  crowded  room, 
and  so  the  next  day  when  the  lad 
came,  he  said,  "  John,  I  thought  it 
was  very  rude  of  you  to  get  up  in 
the  prayer-meeting  and  go  out.  You 
ought  not  to  have  done  so."  "  Oh, 
sir,"  said  the  boy,  "  I  did  not  mean 
to  be  rude :  but  I  thought  I  should 
just  like  to  go  home  and  see  my  sister 
reading  her  Bible  for  the  first  time." 


ADDEESSES  TO  OHILDEEN. 

734.  Seating  of  the  Children.— 
The  location  of  the  children  in  the 
house  of  worship,  when  they  are 
being  preached  to,  is  a  matter  of  not 
a  little  moment.  They  are  some- 
times put  in  the  galleries,  to  be  talked 
to  over  the  heads  of  their  parents. 
The  folly  of  such  an  ajrangement 
for  reaching  children  without  dis- 
placing adults  below,  is  much  like 
the  sportsman's  attempt  to  shoot 
around  a  corner  by  curving  his  gun- 
barrel.  The  charge  will  be  lost,  and 
the  gun  may  burst,  but  tJie  object 
aimed  at  will  not  be  hit.  The  only 
way  to  speak  to  children,  or  to  shoot, 
is  straightforward.  Tortuous  or  in- 
direct addresses  to  them  are  useless. 
They  should  be  in  front  of  the  speaker, 
where  he  can  look  into  their  eyes, 
and  they  into  his ;  otherwise,  any 


272 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


aid  of  magnetic  influence  is  out  of 
the  question ;  there  can  be  no  direct 
personal  intercourse  between  him  and 
them  in    his   discourse.       Yet  the 
children  should  be  brought  together, 
where  they  can  have  an  atmosphere 
of  mutual  sympathy  and  encourage- 
ment. If  they  are  scattered  through- 
out the  congregation,  they  are  likely 
to  be  overawed  by  the  adults  under 
whose  shadow  they  are  placed.  They 
cannot  answer  questions  freely,  nor 
feel  that  the  meeting  is  their  own ; 
nor  is  the  preacher  as  likely  to  re- 
member that  he  is  addressing  only 
them ;  and  this  is  an  important  item 
in  his  effort.     '^  The  temptation  to 
please  the  adult  portion  of  the  audi- 
ence, rather  than  to  edify  the  chil- 
dren, win  sometimes  be  strong,  but 
yielding  to  it  [must  ordinarily  be 
disastrous."   Says  Dr.  Todd:— "The 
hest  way  of  preaching  to  children  is 
to  have  them  entii-ely  alone, — not  an 
adult  in  the  house.     You  can  then 
come  down  to  them,  and  can  interest 
them.     The  next  best  way  is  to  have 
aU  the  children  in  the  centre  of  the 
house,  and   the  congregation  above 
and  around  them ;  and  then  let  the 
speaker  forget^  if  he  can,  that  any- 
body is  present  besides  the  children." 
"At  all    such    public    meetings  of 
children,"  says  Rev.  Edward  Eggles- 
ton,    "one  of   the  most  important 
points  is  to  have  the  children  seated 
in  a  body  in  the  centre  and  front  of 
the  room."     And  Mr.  House  adds, 
wisely : — "  Have  the  yoimgest  nearest 
you,  and  often  direct  your  remarks 
to  them,  varying  your  tone  by  an 
occasional  word  to   some  one  who 
may  be  less  attentive  than  others. 
As  long  as  you  have  the  eyes  of  the 
youngest,  you  are  pretty  sure  of  the 
eyes  and  ears  of  the  older  ones."     If 
the  children  are  worth  preaching  to 
at  aU,  they  are  entitled  to  the  best 
place  in  the  sanctuary, — the  place 
where  they  can  best  hear,  and  will 
be  most  likely  to  receive  profit. 


735.   Addresses  to  Children. — 
"When  a  man    can  talk  well  to 
children,  there  must  be  very  much 
about  him  that  is  gentle  and  lovely." 
So  wrote  his  biographer  concerning 
Hon.   Michael    Faraday,   the  great 
English  chemist.     Mr.  Faraday  was 
in  the  habit  of  lecturing  on  scientific 
subjects  to  the  young,  and  he  almost 
invariably  gave  with  happiest  effect 
a  moral  turn  to  his  teachings.     In  a 
study  of  the  elements  which  consti- 
tuted the  success  of  Professor  Fara- 
day, every  teacher  can  profit.     Ho 
was  never  tedious,  never  prolix,  yet 
never  obscure,  never  a  scold,  never 
pointless.     He  drove  his  nail,  and 
stopped.     The  juveniles  found  him 
irresistible,  even  down  to  the  years 
when  every  hair  of  his  head  was. 
like  the  snow.     In  his  intellect  and 
heart  combined  lay  the  secret  of  his 
power;    the  one  was  clear  as  the 
cloudless  noon,  the  other  fervid  as 
the    summer's    sun,   and  the    two 
always  had  a  common  purpose — that 
of  gently  conquering  and  carrying 
captive  each  youthful  auditor.     In 
all  our  efforts  to  address  the  young- 
we   should  first  have,   in  our  own 
mind,  an  object  distinctly  defined. 
We  should  know  what  we  are  de- 
sirous of  accomplishing,  and  every 
movement,  direct  and  side,  should 
keep    this    steadily    in    the    gaze. 
Around    our    central    thought,    as 
satellites  around  the  sun,  all  lesser 
thoughts    should   cluster  in  closest 
harmony.     Every  fact  and  illustra- 
tion   should    have    immediate   and 
absolute  relevancy  to  this    central 
thought,  and  no  story  should  be  told 
for  the  sake  simply  of  a  story  being 
told,  nor  to  exhibit  our  skill  in  the 
narration.     The  temptation  to  please 
the   adult  portion  of  the  audience, 
rather  than  to   edify  the   children, 
will  sometimes  be  strong,  but  yield- 
ing to  it  must   ordinarily  be   dis- 
astrous.      Show   carefulness    as    to 
your  style.     Latin  derivatives  and 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


273 


recondite  English  words  are  out  of 
place  wlien  plain  Saxon  will  convey 
the  sense  better. 

736.  Addresses. — Good  addresses 
are  a  great  pleasure  and  attraction  ; 
but  the  best  address  that  ever  was 
delivered  is  not  fit  to  be  substituted 
for  the  Sunday-school  lesson.  I  have 
heard  superintendents  say,  "Now, 
children,  as  we  have  Mr.  So-and-so 
with  us  to-day,  we  will  dispense 
with  the  lesson,  and  listen  to  a  few 
remarks  from  him.  This  is  all 
wrong.  I  would  not  attempt  to  lay 
down  a  general  rule  against  any  ad- 
dress except  on  stated  days.  In  the 
country,  where  speakers  are  not 
easily  obtained,  it  is  perhaps  well  to 
catch  them  when  they  come,  and  to 
make  room  for  their  addresses  after 
the  lesson.  My  own  experience  in 
a  city  school  sustains  the  following 
rules : — 

1st.  Set  apart  one  Sunday  in  each 
month  as  a  missionary  meeting,  and 
omit  the  lesson  regularly  on  that 
day,  supplying  its  place  with  ad- 
dresses and  general  exercises.  Do 
not  invite  nor  allow  miy  one  to  ad- 
dress the  school  at  any  other  time. 
Above  all,  don't  be  continually  mak- 
ing long  speeches  to  the  school  your- 
self. The  superintendent  is  always 
in  danger  of  losing  his  influence  by 
too  much  talking;  and  he  should 
avoid  this  whenever  he  can.  Once 
or  twice  in  each  year  address  your 
own  school,  and  do  your  best,  pre- 
paring yourself  as  carefully  as  if 
they  were  an  audience  of  strangers. 
To  them  and  yourself  it  will  be  a 
great  benefit. 

2nd.  Do  not  rely  upon  chance 
visitors ;  but  invite  a  speaker  be- 
forehand for  your  monthly  meeting 
— one  whom  you  know  to  be  able  to 
interest  the  school. 

3rd.  Never  let  a  speaker  run  over 
his  time  so  as  to  prolong  the  session 
of  the  school.  If  you  are  not  punc- 
tual in  closing,  how  can  you  expect 


the  rest  to  be  punctual  in  coming  ? 
— Raymond. 

737.    Delivery     of    Address.— 
Do  not  begin  until  there  is  perfect 
silence.     Let  it  be  felt  that  this  is 
one  of  the  conditions  on  which  you 
speak  at   all.      To   commence  with 
noise  is  a  practical  admission  that, 
on  the  whole,  you  have  no  serious 
objection  to  noise.     If,    as  is  pro- 
bable enough,  talking  should  break 
out  whilst  you  are  speaking,  check 
it  by  a  decided  pause :  and,  on  re- 
suming, pointedly  address  that  por- 
tion of  the  school  which  you  have 
had  to  silence.     Twelve  minutes  is 
as  long   as  you  should  speak.      A 
visitor   about   to   give    the   address 
should  be  told  that  this  is  his  limit. 
If  you  can  say  what  you  have   to 
say  in  teyi  minutes,   so   much  the 
better.      A   great  point   is,   not  to 
weary  the  children  or  overload  their 
young  minds.       One    truth  firmly 
fixed  thereon  is  better  than  three  or 
four  which  wiU  jostle  each  other, 
and  be  retained  for   a  short  time 
only.      Many  a    good  address  has 
been  spoiled  by  the  speaker  attempt- 
ing too  much  and  talking  too  long. 
A  text  is  useful,  but  not  absolutely 
necessary.     Of  course,  the   speaker 
should    have    some   clearly  defined 
aim ;  but  this  does  not  presuppose  a 
text;  and  care  should  be  taken  at 
the  outset  not  to  alarm  your  youth- 
ful audience  by  creating  the  appre- 
hension that  you  are  about  to  jjreach. 
Children  may  be  got  to  like   ad- 
dresses ;  but "  it  is  doubtful  if  they 
will  ever  take  kindly  to  sermons. 
The  desk  is  the  place  for  the  former ; 
the  pulpit  for  the  latter.     Let  your 
manner  be  animated,  without  being 
either  grim  or    comic.      Whatever 
else,   mind  that   your  language  is 
simple,  and  that  your  sentences  are 
short.       "Long     sentences,"     says 
Shenstone,  *'  in  a  short  address,  are 
like  large  rooms  in  a  small  house." 
Let  your  thoughts  reach  down  to  the 


274 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


youngest  child  in  the  school :  if  he 
understands  you,  everybody  else 
may.  Let  your  voice  reach  forward 
to  the  farthest  child  in  the  school : 
if  he  hears  you,  everybody  else  may. 
Be  careful  in  putting  questions  and 
asking  for  replies.  You  may  get 
more  than  you  want,  and  enough  to 
throw  the  school  into  confusion  and 
deprive  you  of  your  command  over 
your  listeners.  There  are  many 
noisy  boys  who  delight  in  vocife- 
rating answers  to  questions.  Do  not 
trick  the  children  into  a  Bible  story. 
Deep  has  been  the  disgust  of  many 
a  boy  on  finding  that  a  story  which 
opened  so  well,  and  promised  to  be 
so  very  fresh,  was,  after  all,  the 
well-worn  tale  of  Joseph  and  his 
brethren,  or  Moses  among  the  bul- 
rushes. Bible  stories  are  as  good 
as  any  that  can  be  met  with,  and 
may  be  clothed  with  aU  possible  in- 
terest and  detail ;  but  tell  them  as 
Bible  stories.  And  for  stories  do 
not  confine  yourself  to  the  Bible. 
The  passing  events  of  the  day,  good 
biography,  and  what  is  known  as 
profane  history  furnish  excellent  ma- 
terial for  Sunday-school  addresses. 
These  addresses  need  not  necessarily 
be  given  every  Sunday.  Where  this 
is  done,  there  should  be  a  good  sup- 
ply of  good  speakers :  every  school 
cannot  be  expected  to  have  such 
supply.  In  these  cases,  it  would  be 
well  occasionally  to  dispense  with 
the  address  for  a  short  (a  very  short) 
prayer-meeting  or  the  singing  of  a 
few  favourite  hymns.  By  whom 
should  the  address  be  given  ?  Not 
by  the  teachers  in  rotation  :  there 
are  many  very  serviceable  teachers, 
who  are  unfitted  to  give  an  address. 
Nor  necessarily  by  the  superinten- 
dent: he  has  sufficient  of  other  work. 
Schools,  we  know,  are  to  be  met  with 
in  which  all  the  addresses  are  given 
by  the  superintendent ;  this  must  be 
bad  for  the  superintendent  himself, 
and  worse  still  for  the  poor  scholars. 


Nor  does  it  follow  that  visitors  should 
always  be  asked  to  speak :  some 
visitors  are  great  bores,  come  on 
purpose  to  speak,  and  deserve  to  be 
disappointed.  The  minister  may  be 
asked  now  and  then ;  but  he,  too, 
like  the  superintendent,  has  enough 
of  other  work,  and  will  frequently 
do  as  much  good  by  his  mere  pre- 
sence in  the  school  as  by  giving  the 
address.  It  is  for  the  superintendent 
to  select  the  teachers  most  fitted  for 
this  work,  and  occasionally  to  relieve 
these  by  any  suitable  stranger  who 
may  present  himself,  or  by  some 
friend  from  a  neighbouring  school. 
Finally,  let  aU  you  say  tend  to  the 
salvation  of  the  soul.  That  lost, 
and  it  matters  little  what  else  is 
saved.  That  saved,  and  it  matters 
little  what  else  is  lost. 

738.  Have  something  to  Teach. 
— Every  preacher  to  children  should 
have  clearly,  in  his  own  mind  at  the 
outset,  a  well-defined  idea  which  he 
intends  that  his  hearers  shall  have 
in  theirs  at  the  close.  It  may  seem 
superfluous  to  name  this  point ;  yet, 
it  is  true  that  children  are  often  ad- 
dressed in  i:eligious  assemblies  by 
those  who  have  never  a  thought  be- 
yond interesting  them  or  exciting 
their  emotions.  A  formal  sermon  is 
hardly  likely  to  be  preached  without 
some  thought  in  it ;  but  what  is 
here  ^\T.itten  is  intended  equally  for 
all  who  publicly  address  children, 
be  they  ministers  or  laymen.  A 
minister  may  freely  use  anecdote  and 
illustration,  and  loving  words  and 
tones,  to  attract  the  children's  at- 
tention and  excite  their  interest ; 
but  this  must  be  solely  for  the  pur- 
pose of  conveying  some  valuable  in- 
struction to  those  whose  attention 
and  interest  are  thus  secured.  His 
business  is  to  feed  the  lambs ;  not 
merely  to  gather  them  about  him- 
self with  open  mouths  and  pleading 
looks.    It  matters  less  to  the  hungry 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


275 


soul  whether  the  dinner  call  is  made 
by  the  noisy  gong  or  the  tinkling 
bell,  than  that  the  food  supplied  is 
abundant  and  nourishing.  Let  then 
every  man  who  has  addressed  chil- 
dren ask  himself,  as  he  leaves  the 
desk  or  platform,  What  new  or  im- 
portant thought  have  I  communi- 
cated to,  or  impressed  on,  these 
children's  minds  ?  How  would  they 
be  likely  to  re-state  it,  if  ques- 
tioned? If  he  cannot  define  his 
idea,  they  surely  cannot,  and  the 
time  he  has  taken  has  been  worse 
than  lost. — Trumhull. 

739.  Manner, — There  is  scarcely 
a  limit  to  the  suggestions  that  may 
be  made  to  the  children's  speaker. 
Everything  that  goes  to  render  the 
preacher  to  adults  effective  is  of 
service  to  him  who  addresses  the 
young.  His  very  manner  of  speech 
is  potent.  His  tones  of  voice  may 
attract,  enliven  and  thrill  his  young 
hearers,  or  may  chill  and  repel  them. 
''  Children  will  respond  to  every 
gleam  of  the  eye,  to  every  throb  of 
the  heart ;  but  as  by  intuition  they 
will  detect  and  repudiate  a  lukewarm 
earnestness  or  a  counterfeit  enthu- 
siasm. .  .  .  Tears  will  call  for  tears, 
love  for  love^  tenderness  for  tender- 
ness." The  speaker  may  so  invest 
the  truth  he  utters  with  his  personal 
qualities  of  attractiveness,  that  for 
his  sake,  the  children  will  believe 
and  love  it.  A  certain  vivacity,  a 
quickness  and  life  in  speech  and 
manner,  is  called  for  by  children, 
which  is  less  important  in  addressing 
adults.  The  children's  preacher 
shoidd  think  and  speak  and  move 
with  somewhat  of  their  promptness 
and  ''  snap,"  if  he  would  carry 
along  their  sympathies.  And  he 
should  be  as  natural  and  uncon- 
strained as  possible.  He  should  talk 
to  the  little  ones,  rather  than  read 
an  essay  or  deliver  an  address  to 
them.      *'  I    can    understand    your 


talkirC  talk,  but  T  can't  much  under- 
stand your  ijreachh})  talk^''  was  the 
remark  of  a  German  hearer  to  an 
American  minister ;  and  the  same 
could  be  said  by  many  a  child  to 
those  who  essay  to  address  him. 
"Naturalness  implies  simplicity  in 
language,  in  manner,  and  in  illus- 
tration. The  beauty  of  childhood  is 
its  guileless  simj^hcity,  and  he  who 
learns  again,  or  who  never  loses,  this 
freshness  of  heart,  will  become  the  best 
recipient  and  the  most  successful 
teacher  of  Divine  truth. — Trumhull. 

740.  Questioning  in  Preaching. 
—  Some  of  the  most  successful 
preachers  to  children  make  ample 
use  of  the  power  of  questioning. 
Says  Dr.  Todd:  <'I  have  tried  to 
talh:  in  such  a  manner,  that,  on 
pausing  several  times,  and  asking 
my  little  bright  audience  what  point 
had  just  been  stated  and  illustrated, 
the  child  who  could  only  lisp  should 
usually  be  able  to  throw  his  voice 
in  with  the  rest  in  answering." 
Whoever  has  heard  Rev.  Dr.  Newton, 
knows  that  much  of  his  effectiveness 
as  a  preacher  to  children  comes  of 
his  skill  and  tact  as  a  questioner. 
He  asks  the  children  to  repeat  aloud 
the  text  he  announces ;  he  calls  on 
them  to  re-state  each  division  of 
his  discourse ;  he  questions  them  as 
to  the  meaning  of  words  used  by 
him;  and  before  he  states  a  new 
head  he  asks  them  to  remind  him  of 
those  which  preceded  it.  At  the 
close  of  the  sermon,  he  hears  his 
young  hearers  give,  in  response  to 
his  well-timed  questions,  the  entii^e 
synopsis  of  his  discourse,  so  that  it 
is  then  as  much  theirs  as  it  was  his. 
They  and  he  have  preached  it  together. 
They  are  likely  never  to  forget  its 
lessons  or  substance.  Ealph  Wells, 
as  a  lay-preacher  to  children,  ques- 
tions yet  more  fi-eely,  and  with  like 
success.  The  same  may  be  said  of 
many  others. — Trumhull. 


276 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD 


741.  Three  Essentials Without 

something  to  saj,  a  plan  of  saying 
it,  and  saying  it  simply,  no  man 
can  hope  to  address  children  profit- 
ably. With  these  qualifications,  he 
may  always  hope  to  he  heard  and 
understood,  and  to  edify  his  hearers, 
for  children  love  to  be  talked  to,  and 
their  minds  are  ever  open  to  bright 
and  fresh  ideas.  Of  course  it  must 
not  be  forgotten,  that  to  really  bene- 
fit children  by  any  address,  the 
speaker  must  employ  God's  truth, 
in  reliance  on  God's  Spirit ;  but  the 
suggestions  herein  made  are  rather 
as  to  the  manner  of  preaching,  than 
as  to  its  spirit  and  substance. 

742.  Be  Eeverent. — In  all  the 
use  of  Scripture  themes  and  terms, 
there  should  be  sincere  reverence 
displayed  by  the  children's  preacher. 
There  is  a  certain  flippancy  of  speech 
common  among  talkers  to  children, 
even  in  the  mention  of  the  holy 
names  of  the  Trinity,  or  of  the  most 
sacred  topics  of  religion,  which  should 
be  shunned  conscientiously.  Reve- 
rence for  God,  and  for  all  that  in 
any  sense  represents  Him,  must  be 
taught  by  example  as  well  as  by 
precept  to  the  young.  "  Put  off  thy 
shoes  from  off  thy  feet ;  for  the 
place  whereon  thou  standest  is  holy 
ground."  This  should  be,  from  the 
first,  the  temper  carefully  wrought 
into  our  children's  minds,  if  we  would 
have  them  approach  God  with 
acceptance.  To  teach  them  to  think 
boldly  of  mysteries,  in  the  vain 
hope  of  explaining  to  their  childish 
minds  what,  in  the  fulness  of  their 
highest  understanding,  they  can 
never  truly  comprehend,  may  make 
them  shrewd  and  forward  questioners, 
but  cannot  make  them  meek  and 
teachable  disciples.  It  is  better  to 
have  children  seriously  impressed 
with  an  important  truth,  in  their 
Sabbath  service,  than  to  have  them 
thoroughly  amusedy  so  as  to  laugh 


with  or  at  the  speaker,  or  connect 
ludicrous  associations  with  a  passage 
of  Scripture,  albeit  not  all  who 
address  them  seem  to  think  so. — 
Dr.  Wilherforce. 

742.  Be  Plain. — A  child  cannot 
like  u'hat  it  does  not  understaiid  and 
does  not  rememher.  A  little  girl, 
about  five  years  of  age,  on  being 
praised  for  her  quiet  behaviour,  re- 
plied, *'  Yes,  I  thought  I  would  be  a 
good  girl  to-day;  and  so  I  fancied 
my  arm  was  a  doUy,  and  talked  to 
it  in  my  heart."  This  little  girl  had 
certainly  been  early  initiated  into 
the  silent  delights  of  day-dreaming 
and  vain  imaginings,  and  was  form- 
ing a  taste  for  novel  reading — a  love 
of  sentimentalism,  probably,  to  prove 
a  thorn  in  her  path  in  after-life. 
Children  will  repeat  their  daily  les- 
sons, make  doggerel  verses,  count  the 
flies  in  the  window  or  the  spots  on 
their  clothes,  and  a  thousand  other 
tricks,  to  cheat  the  tedious  time.  It 
was  a  sad  day  for  the  poor  children 
when  gas  superseded  the  use  of  oil ; 
for  to  watch  the  man  stealthily 
going  from  lamp  to  lamp,  and  light- 
ing each  in  rotation,  was  a  rare 
amusement.  Are  these  good  habits 
to  form  ?  A  little  boy,  with  a  large 
round  head  and  thoughtful  intelli- 
gent eye,  after  scrutinising  every- 
thing within  his  gaze,  whispered  to 
his  father,  <'What  is  that  for?" 
pointing  to  an  object  the  use  of 
which  he  did  not  understand.  The 
father  bid  him  to  "be  quiet  and  not 
talk ;"  the  child  obeyed ;  his  bright 
and  beaming  face  gradually  length- 
ened, yawns  and  sighs  succeeded, 
tni  turning  again  to  his  father  with 
a  tearful  eye  and  desponding  look, 
"Oh,  father!  when  shall  we  go 
home  ?  I  want  to  look  at  my  Bible 
picture-book  so  much,  and  read  the 
pretty  story  about  the  baby  in  the 
cradle."  His  father  sharply  reproved 
him  for  talking,  and  the  submissive 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


277 


little  lamb  looked  down,  twirling 
his  thumb,  nnconscious  in  what  he 
had  been  naughty.  How  we  longed 
to  set  that  noble  spirit  free,  and 
place  him  in  an  infant  Sabbath- 
school,  where  his  active  buoj^ant 
mind  would  have  been  supplied 
with  "food  convenient  for  it!" — 
Davids. 

744.  Be  Brief.— If  taken  to  the 
house  of  God,  or  accustomed  to  long 
addresses  at  school,  they  will  kevee 
acquire  the  habit  of  close  attention. 
The  teacher  should  give  home 
thrusts,  in  i)ithy  sentences,  through- 
out the  entire  lesson  ;  skilfully  wind- 
ing up  all  the  principal  points  in  a 
short  address  of  five  or  ten  minutes' 
length,  at  its  close ;  when  prayer 
should  immediately  follow,  and  the 
school  be  dismissed.  The  giels 
should  leave  Jirst,  and  be  completely 
clear  of  the  school  before  the  boys 
are  permitted  to  follow  them. — 
Davids, 

745.  Long  Sermons  Tire.  —  A 
Scotch  minister  told  his  neighbour 
that  he  spoke  two  hours  and  a 
half  the  Sunday  previous.  ''  Why, 
minister,  were  you  not  tired  to 
death  ? ' '  asked  the  neighbour.  '  *  Aw, 
nae,"  said  he,  "I  was  as  fresh  as  a 
rose ;  but  it  would  have  done  your 
heart  good  to  see  how  tired  the  con- 
gregation was." 

746.  Be  Simple. — Equally  im- 
portant with  the  having  something 
to  teach,  and  a  plan  in  presenting 
it,  is  the  use  of  simple  language,  in 
addresses  to  children.  "  Be  plain 
in  speech.  Give  a  clear  view  of 
what  you  teach.  Let  your  teaching 
be  understood,"  says  Dr.  Robert 
Steel  in  his  admirable  work  on  Sun- 
day-school teaching ;  and  he  quotes 
Dr.  South  as  saying:  **  He  is  the 
powerfullest  preacher,  and  the  best 
orator,  who  can  make  himself  best 
understood,"    But  Mr.  Green  forci- 


bly suggests  that  it  is  not  by  using 
words  of  one  syllable  that  language 
is  made  simple.  *'We  never  talk 
to  children  in  monosyllables.  .  .  . 
Let  us  be  plain  and  Saxon  as  pos- 
sible in  our  speech;  but  let  us  not 
imagine  that  we  have  simplified  our 
language  when  we  have  only  re- 
duced the  size  of  our  words.  The 
measure  of  simplicity  is  not  linear 
measure."  And  Dr.  "Waterbury 
adds:  "Children  comprehend  more 
readily  than  you  imagine.  You 
need  not  insult  their  understanding 
by  descending  to  a  style  of  babyish 
simplicity.  How  do  you  make  your 
own  children  of  eight,  ten,  and 
twelve  years  understand  you  ?  Does 
it  require  a  studied  simplicity  ?  By 
no  means.  Tou  talk  to  them  in 
plain  Saxon  language,  just  such  as 
you  use  in  your  intercourse  with 
ordinary  grown  people.  Do  they 
not  understand  you?  Why  should 
you  adopt  any  different  style  in 
preaching  to  them  ? "  A  strong 
thought  loses  none  of  its  force  by 
being  expressed  in  familiar  speech. 
A  feeble  idea  gains  no  power  by 
being  rendered  in  high-sounding 
phrase.  Yet  it  requires  more  of 
ability  to  grasp  a  great  truth  and 
then  to  give  it  simple  expression, 
than  to  use  swelling  words  without 
full  appreciation  of  their  meaning ; 
and  care  is  always  necessary,  in 
talking  to  children,  not  to  employ 
words  above  their  possible  compre- 
hension. In  evidence  of  the  truth 
that  simplicity  in  style  and  lan- 
guage is  compatible  with  intellec- 
tual breadth  and  culture,  it  is  only 
necessary  to  refer  to  some  of  the 
published  sermons  or  writings  for 
children  from  men  of  strong  thought 
and  high  attainment  who  have  had 
marked  success  in  this  direction. 

747.  Have  thoughtful  re- 
gard to  the  child's  intellects- 
thoughtful  regard  to  its  methods  of 


278 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL  WORLD. 


reasoning  and  feeling.  Avoid  dili- 
gently abstract  reasoning,  and  wliat 
are  known  as  learned  or  philoso- 
phical terms.  There  is  a  story — it 
may  be  a  little  mythical  or  it  may 
be  true — of  a  learned  Doctor  of 
Divinity,  who,  being  requested  to 
address  a  Sabbath- school,  proceeded 
thus:  "Dear  childi'en,  I  design  to 
be  very  plain.  I  wish  to  tell  you 
about  the  Bible.  The  Bible  is  a 
synopsis  of  Divine  truth.  And  as 
you  may  not  know  what  a  synopsis 
means,  I  will  explain  it  to  you.  A 
synopsis,  dear  children,  is  a  suc- 
pinct  statement  or  survey  of  a  sub- 
ject." It  is  easy  to  imagine  the 
amount  of  enlightenment  to  the 
dear  children,  from  this  "plain" 
presentation.  Yet  there  is  continual 
danger  of  our  erring,  if  not  to  this 
extent,  yet  enough  to  insure  failure. 
— Amer.  S.  S.  Teacher. 

748.  A  speaker  address- 
ing a  Sabbath- school  said : — "  Chil- 
dren, can  any  of  you  tell  me 
•what  is  the  ostensible  design  of 
Sabbath-schools?"  There  was  a 
pause :  he  repeated  the  question ; 
whereupon  one  of  the  scholars  piped 
out,  "  Yeth,  thir!"  followed  by  a 
t)urst  of  laughter,  which  at  once  put 
an  end  to  the  inquiry.  We  recently 
saw  a  man  rise  to  talk  to  a  large 
mass  of  children,  and,  with  a  due 
solemnity  of  tone,  begin  thus : 
"  The  scene  which  we  now  behold  is 
one  of  unparalleled  sublimity,"  &c. 
It  soon  became  one  of  unparalleled 
restlessness. 

749.  The  language  used  is 

often  unsuitable.  We  remember 
having  read  a  book  for  the  young,  in 
which  the  writer  went  out  of  his 
way  to  find  hard  words,  and  put  at 
the  bottom  of  the  pages  foot-notes 
explanatory  of  them  !  Very  recently 
a  friend  heard  a  village  preacher 
state  that  "the  Jews  stoned,  that 
is,  lapidated  our  Lord !  "    The  wrong 


word  conceals  the  idea,  and  misre- 
presents it.  "  The  preacher  sought 
to  find  out  acceptable  words;  "  and 
so  will  the  pious,  educated  teacher. 
What  a  model  of  simplicity  is  the 
Lord's  Prayer !  Get  the  right  word 
and  put  it  in  the  right  place,  if  you 
wish  the  children  to  follow  in  your 
prayer. 

750.  A  Hint  for  the  Teacher.— 
John"  Bright,  who,  when  he  speaks, 
usually  writes  out  on  a  card  three  or 
four-  of  the  principal  branches  of  his 
subject,  and  walks  about  the  room 
for  a  little  while  fitting  them  to 
their  proper  order,  says  : — "  There  is 
one  thing  I  always  prepare,  and  that 
is  the  end  of  my  speech.  Before  I 
get  up  to  speak,  I  always  know  how 
I  am  going  to  leave  off,  and  that  is 
half  the  art.  Many  a  decent 
speaker  has  spoken  well  for  a  time, 
but  cannot  while  speaking  hit  upon 
a  few  good  sentences  with  which  to 
stop,  and  at  last  makes  a  mess  of  it, 
and  leaves  an  unfavourable  impres- 
sion."— S.  S.  Teacher  Amer, 


OUTLINES  OP  SEEVIOES  AND 
SERMONS. 

751.  Examples  of  Subjects. — 
The  following  are  named  as  exam- 
ples of  passages  suitable  to  be  read 
at  the  children's  service  : 

Abraham's  Trial  of  Faith.  Gen. 
xxii.  1 — 14. 

The  Blessings  for  Obedience. 
Deut.  xxviii.  1 — 14. 

David's  Triumph  over  Goliath.  1 
Sam.  xvii.  38—50. 

Naaman  and  the  Little  Maid.  2 
Kings  V.  1 — 14. 

The  Excellence  of  Wisdom. 
Prov.  iv.  1 — 15. 

Exhortation  to  Early  Piety. 
Eccl.  xii.  1—14. 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


279 


Visit  of  the  "Wise  Men  to  Jesus. 
Matt.  ii.  1—12. 

The  Crucifixion.  Mark  xv.  15 — 
38. 

Christ's  Eesurrection.  Luke 
xxiv.  1 — 15. 

Obedience  and  Courage  Enjoined. 
Eph.  vi.  1—13. 

Love  to  God  and  to  Man  a  Duty. 
1  John  iv.  7 — 21. 

The  Heavenly  Jerusalem.  Eev. 
xxi.  10—25. 

The  parables  and  the  miracles  of 
Jesus  are  also  particularlywell  adapted 
for  such  reading. — Trumhull. 

752.  A  Sketch  of  a  Juvenile 
Service,  to  occupy  not  more  than 
one  hour. 

1.  Hymn  of  praise  to  be  sung.  5 
mia. 

2.  Prayer — short  and  simple  sen- 
tences— the  children  silent.     5  min. 

3.  Reading  of  Scripture,  not  more 
than  fifteen  verses — the  children  re- 
peating simultaneously,  clause  by 
clause.     10  min. 

4.  Hymn  to  be  sung — a  Sunday- 
school  hymn,  or  children's  chorus.  5 
min. 

5.  The  Lord's  Prayer — to  be  re- 
peated audibly  and  simultaneously 
by  the  children  themselves.     5  min. 

6.  The  Address.  Children  may  be 
selected  beforehand  to  read  the  text, 
and  proof  passages :  these,  written 
on  slips  of  paper,  may  be  distributed 
by  two  or  three  teachers  before  the 
service  commences ;  about  ten  or 
twelve  children  may  be  thus  em- 
ployed at  each  service.     20  min. 

7.  Prayer.     3  min. 

8.  Hymn  of  praise.     5  min. 

9.  Benediction.     2  min. 

The  object  of  giving  the  children 
the  passages  beforehand,  and  of  en- 
couraging them  to  read  such  texts 
aloud  during  the  address  as  well  as 
the  simultaneous  reading  of  Scrip- 
ture, and  repeating  of  the  Lord's 
Prayer,  is,  by  giving  them  something 


to  do,  to  excite  attention  and 
maintain  order.  After  two  or  three 
services  have  been  thus  conducted, 
there  will  not  be  the  slightest  con- 
fusion.—j^'i/.  of  S.  S.  World. 

753.  A  Specimen  Service. — 
Given  to  a  class  of  young  boys  or 
girls,  a  week  or  so  before  the  con- 
cert, to  be  committed  to  memory,  the 
superintendent,  at  the  proper  time, 
calls  A,  and  the  scholar  rises  in  his 
or  her  place  and  repeats  the  verse 
answering  to  this  letter,  and  so  on 
in  alphabetical  order  through  aU  the 
letters.  At  the  close  a  verse  is 
repeated  by  the  superintendent,  and 
two  verses  in  concert  by  the  class. 

THE  EXEECISE. 

A. — Author  and  Fitiisher  of  our 
faith;  who,  for  the  joy  that  was  set 
before  Him,  endured  the  Cross,  des- 
pising the  shame,  and  is  set  down  at 
the  right  hand  of  the  throne  of  God. 
— Heb.  xii.  2. 

B. — Blessed  and  only  Potentate, 
the  King  of  Kings,  and  Lord  of 
Lords. — 1  Tim.  vi.  15. 

C. — Captain  of  their  salvation, 
perfect  through  sufierings. — Heb. 
ii.  10. 

D. — Desire  of  aU  nations  shall 
come :  and  I  will  fill  this  house  with 
glory,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts. — 
Hag,  ii.  7. 

E. — Everlasting  Father,  Prince  of 
Peace,  of  the  increase  of  His  govern- 
ment and  peace  there  shall  be  no 
end. — Isa.  ix.  6,  7. 

F.— Faithful  Witness,  and  the 
First-begotten  of  the  dead,  the  Lord 
which  is,  and  which  was,  and  which 
is  to  come,  the  Almighty. — Rev.  i.  5, 8. 

G. — Good  Shepherd  ;  the  good 
Shepherd  giveth  His  life  for  the 
sheep. — John  x.  11. 

H. — Head  over  all  things  to  the 
Church,  which  is  His  body,  the  ful- 
ness of  Him  that  filleth  aU  in  all. — 
Eph.  i.  22,  23. 


$so 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


J. — Judge  of  quick  and  dead. 
To  Him  give  ail  the  prophets  wit- 
ness, that,  through  His  name,  who- 
soever believeth  in  Him  shall  receive 
"demission  of  sins. — Acts.  x.  42,  43. 

K. — King  of  glory,  the  Lord 
'itrong  and  mighty,  the  Lord  mighty 
in  battle. — Ps.  xxiv.  8. 

L. — Lion  of  the  tribe  of  Juda, 
the  Eoot  of  David.  I  am  He  that 
liveth  and  was  dead,  and  behold  I 
am  alive  forevermore. — Rev.  v.  5. 

M.^ — Messenger  of  the  Covenant, 
whom  ye  delight  in ;  behold.  He 
shall  come,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts. 
—Mai.  iii.  1. 

N. — And  He  came  and  dwelt  in  a 
city  called  Nazareth :  that  it  might 
be  fulfilled  which  was  spoken  by  the 
prophets,  He  shall  be  called  a  Naza- 
rene. — Matt.  ii.  23. 

0. — Offspring  of  David,  and  the 
bright  and  morning  star,  and  the 
Spirit  and  the  bride  say,  Come. — 
Eev.  xxii.  16,  17 o 

P. — Prince  of  the  kings  of  the 
earth.  Unto  Him  that  loved  us, 
and  washed  us  from  our  sins  in  His 
own  blood,  be  glory  forever  and 
ever. — Rev.  i.  5,  6. 

R. — Resurrection,  and  the  Life ;  he 
that  believeth  in  Me,  though  he  were 
dead,  yet  shall  he  live. — Johnxi.  25. 

S. — Shepherd  of  the  sheep.  Now 
the  God  of  Peace,  that  brought  again 
from  the  dead  our  Lord  Jesus,  that 
great  Shepherd  of  the  sheep. — Heb. 
xiii.  20. 

T. — True  light,  which  lighteth 
every  man  that  cometh  into  the 
world. — John  i.  9. 

W. — Wonderful,  Counsellor,  the 
mighty  God,  the  government  shall 
be  upon  His  shoulder  to  establish  it 
with  Justice,  henceforth,  even  for- 
ever.— Isa.  ix.  7. 

Super mtendent. — And,  behold,  I 
come  quickly,  and  My  reward  is 
with  Me,  to  give  every  man  ac- 
cording as  His  work  shall  be. — Rev. 
xxii.  12. 


Class  in  Concert. — I  am  Alpha 
and  Omega,  the  beginning  and  the 
end,  the  first  and  the  last.  Blessed 
are  they  that  do  His  commandments, 
that  they  may  have  right  to  the 
tree  of  life,  and  may  enter  in  through 
the  gates  into  the  city. — Rev.  xxii. 
13,  14.— G^.  D. 

754.  Responsive  Reading. — 
Responsive  or  alternate  readings  are 
not  equally  suited  to  all  portions  of 
the  Bible,  especially  by  the  common 
arrangement  of  verses.  Such  a  di- 
vision frequently  mars  the  sense,  in 
the  transition  from  leader  to  as- 
sembly, although  in  other  instances 
it  is  eminently  proper.  The  verses 
of  some  chapters  are  naturally  di- 
vided into  two  parts,  and  can  be 
responsively  read  with  good  effect. 
Take,  for  example,  the  tenth  chapter 
of  Proverbs.  The  first  half  of  each 
verse  may  be  read  by  the  leader. 
The  remainder  (as  printed  in  italics) 
forms  the  response  by  the  assembly. 

1.  The  proverbs  of  Solomon.    A  wise 

son  maketh  a  glad  father : 
But  a  foolish  son  is  the  heaviness  of  his 
mother. 

2.  Treasm-es    of     wickedness    profit 

nothing : 
But  lighteousness  delivereth  from  death. 

3.  The  Lord  will  not  suffer  the  soul  of 

the  righteous  to  famish  : 
But  he  casteth  away  the  substance  of 
the  imched. 

4.  He  becometh  poor  that  dealeth  with 

a  slack  hand : 
But  the  hand  of  the  diligent  maketh 
rich. 

It  is  a  good  suggestion  of  Mr. 
Waldo  Abbott's,  that  in  the  alternate 
readings  of  Scripture,  the  children 
"be  led  by  the  assistant  [superin- 
tendent] who  shoidd  stand  at  the 
fui'ther  end  of  the  room." — Trum- 
bull. 

755.  The  Psalms  for  Responsive 
Reading.— The  Psalms  are  peculiarly 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


281 


suited  to  responsive  use  in  public 
worship.  Indeed  it  was  for  just 
this  that  they  were  obviously 
designed.  ''  They  are  all  poetical, 
not  merely  imaginative,  and  ex- 
pressive- of  feelmg,  but  stamped 
externally  with  that  peculiar 
character  of  parallelism  which 
distinguishes  the  higher  style  of 
Hebrew  composition  from  ordinary 
prose.  .  .  .  They  are  all  ecclesiastical 
lyrics,  psalms  or  hymns,  intended 
to  be  permanently  used  in  public 
worship."  '^  In  all,  or  nearly  all  of 
them,"  says  one,  in  commending  an 
admirable  version  of  the  Psalms 
arranged  according  to  the  original 
parallelisms,  "the  two  parts,  lead 
and  response,  are  clearly  traceable 
throughout.  Thought  answers  to 
thought,  emotion  to  emotion,  and 
the  responsive  utterance  by  leader 
and  people  develops  the  beauty  and 
power  of  their  inspired  words  in  a 
much  higher  degree  than  can  be 
realised  by  the  ordinary  mode  of 
reading  by  alternate  verses.  In 
illustration  of  this,  take  the  sixty- 
seventh  Psalm.  The  lead  is  printed 
in  Eoman  letters,  and  the  response 
in  italics : — 

1.  God  be  merciful  unto  us  ^nd  bless 

us ; 
And  came  Ms  face  to  shine  upon  us. 

2.  That  thy  way  may  be  known  upon 

earth, 
Thy  saving  health  among  all  nations. 

3.  Let  the  people  praise  thee,  0  Godj 
Let  all  the  peojjle  jjraise  thee. 

4.  0  let  the  nations  be  glad  and  sing 

for  joy : 

For  thou  shalt  Judge  the  people  right- 
eously, 

And  goveivi  the  nations  upon  earth. 

5.  Let  the  people  praise  thee,  0  God : 
Let  all  the  jyeople  praise  thee. 

6.  Then    shall    the    earth    yield    her 

increase ; 
And  God,  even  our  ovm  God,  shall  bless 
us. 

7.  God  shall  bless  us ; 

And  all  the  ends  of  the  earth  shall 
fear  him. 

— Trumbull. 


756.  Arrangement  of  Addresses. 
— Above  all,  a  sermon  to  children 
should  have  a  weU-arranged  design, 
a  skeleton  to  give  strength  and 
symmetry  to  the  entire  body.  Says 
Dr.  Newton,  *'  In  preparing  a  sermon 
for  children,  I  regard  it  of  the  first 
importance  to  make  clear,  natural, 
distinct  points.  My  plan  is  always 
to  begin  with  an  outline,  the  several 
points  of  which  can  be  stated  in 
language  as  simple  as  possible.  If 
each  point  can  be  made  to  turn  on  a 
single  word,  so  much  the  better. 
"When  these  points  are  before  me,  I 
range  through  my  scrap-books,  and 
all  the  material  at  hand,  in  search 
of  illustrations.  I  have  sometimes 
spent  as  much  as  two  days  in  seeking 
illustrations  for  a  single  sermon. 
When  this  is  done,  I  go  carefully 
over  what  has  thus  been  gleaned  and 
cull  out  such  illustrations  as  seem 
best  adapted  to  the  several  points 
before  me."  Any  of  Dr.  Xewton's 
published  sermons  will  illustrate  his 
plan  of  arrangement.  For  instance : — 

"  The  Best  Workers.  '  My  Father 
worketh  hitherto,  and  I  work.' — John 
V.  17.  The  Heavenly  Workers  are 
the  Best  Workers,  because  they  work 
so  extensively ;  so  quietly ;  ^o  poicer- 
fully;  so  carefully;  and  so  wisely. 
We  may  learn  two  things  from  this 
subject.  In  the  first  place  it  teaches 
us  that  Work  is  an  honourable  thing. 
.  .  .  We  may  also  learn  from  the 
subject  How  we  should  try  to  do  our 
work.'''' 

"  The  Tenth  Commandinent. 
'  Thou  shalt  not  covet.  .  .  .'  Ex. 
XX.  17.  We  have  considered  four 
reasons  why  we  should  not  covet. 
Because  it  is  unsatisfying;  because 
it  is  disgraceful ;  because  it  is  in- 
jurious ;  and  because  it  is  sinful." 

757.  Statement  of  Subject. — 
The  very  statement  of  the  subject  of 
a  sermon  or  address  to  children  may 
be  a  means  of  attracting  attention  to 


282 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOKLD. 


what  is  said,  and  of  fastening  in  the 
mind  the  truth  taught.  Thus  the 
titles  of  many  of  the  published  ser- 
mons to  children,  taken  in  connection 
with  the  texts  preached  from,  are 
suggestive  and  instructive.  For 
example : 

758.  Eev.  J.  Todd.— In  Todd's 
''Lecture's  to  Children."  Great 
eve7its  hang  on  Little  Things.  "  A 
certain  man  drew  a  bow  at  a  ven- 
ture."— 1  Kings  xxii.  24.  Frag- 
ments all  to  he  saved.  "Gather  up 
the  fragments  that  remain,  that  no- 
thing be  lost." — John  vi.  12. 

759.  Eev.  A.  McLean. — In 
McLean's  "  Food  for  the  Lambs." 
The  Little  Foxes,  and  how  to  catch 
them.  ' '  Take  us  the  foxes,  the 
little  foxes  that  spoH  the  vines ;  for 
our  vines  have  tender  grapes. — Song 
xi.  15.  The  Snow  Sermon. 
"  Wash  me,  and  I  shall  be  whiter 
than  snow." 

760.  Eev.  S.  B.  Green,  B.A.— 
In  Green's  "  Addresses  to  Children." 
The  Little  Slave  Girl.  "Now  the 
Syrians  had  gone  out  by  companies, 
and  had  brought  away  captive  out  of 
the  land  of  Israel  a  little  maid ;  and 
she  waited  on  Naaman's  wife." — 2 
Kings  V.  2.  A  Sermon  for  Spring - 
Time.  "Consider  the  lilies  of  the 
field."— Matt.  vi.  28. 

761.  Eev.  Peabody In  Pea- 
body's  Sermons  for  Children.  Use 
and  Abuse  of  the  Tongue.  "  Keep 
thy  tongue  from  evil,  and  thy  lips 
from  speaking  guile." — Ps.xxxiv.  13. 
False  Shame.  "I  am  not  ashamed 
of  the  Gospel  of  Christ." — Eom.  i. 
16. 

762.  Eev.  J.  A.  Collier.— An- 
other choice  collection  of  sermons  to 
children  is  from  the  pen  of  Eev. 
Joseph  A.  Collier,  Kingston,  N.  Y., 
under  the  title  of  Little  Croions 
end  How  to  Win  Them.  The  plan 
of  the  first  of  these  is  as  follows  : — 


"Josiah  was  eight  years  old  when 
he  began  to  reign." — 2  Chron.  xxiv. 
1.  What  boy  has  not  sometimes 
wished  that  he  might  become  a 
king,  and  live  in  a  splendid  palace, 
all  shining  with  gold  and  gems  ?  .  .  . 
Now  I  am  going  to  tell  you  .  .  .  how 
you  may  all  wear  crowns,  if  you  will 
only  take  the  pains  to  win  them.  .  .  . 

1.  One  of  these  crowns  is  Self- 
Government.  .  .  . 

2.  Another  crown  is  Wisdom.  .  .  . 

3.  Another  crown  is  Obedience  to 
God.  .  .  . 

4.  Another  crown,  beautiful  and 
bright,  as  if  it  had  come  straight 
down  fi'om  heaven,  is  that  of 
Love.  .  .  . 

5.  I  must  tell  you  of  one  more 
crown  :  and  it  is  as  bright  as  all  the 
others  melted  into  one  can  make  it — 
'  The  crown  of  glory  thatfadeth  not 
away.''  " 

763.  Eev.  W.  P.  Breed,  D.D— 
Similar  skill  in  sermon  outlines  is 
shown  by  the  Eev.  Dr.  W.  P.  Breed, 
of  Philadelphia,  in  his  collections  of 
discourses  to  childi'cn  known  as 
"  Under  the  Oak,"  and  "Grapes  from 
the  Great  Vine."  For  instance,  he 
has  one  called — The  Five  Wonders. 
"  Behold,  I  stand  at  the  door  and 
knock:  if  any  man  hear  my  voice, 
and  open  the  door,  I  will  come  in  to 
him,  and  will  sup  with  him,  and  he 
with  me." — Eev.  iii.  20.  At  least 
five  several  wonders  in  one  short 
text  of  Scripture  !  The  first  wonder 
is  found  in — The  Fersoji  mentioned 
in  that  little  ivord  "J."  The  second 
wonder  is — His  object  in  knocking 
there.  The  third  wonder  is — That 
Jesus  is  permitted  to  stand,  without 
being  admitted.  The  fourth  of  the 
five  wonders  is — The  patience  of 
Jesus  in  standing  so  long  at  the  sin- 
ner^s  heart.  The  fifth  and  last  of 
these  wonders  is — Christ  supping 
with  the  sinner.''^ 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


283 


764.  Eev.  John  Edmonds,  D.D. 
— The  sermons  of  Rev.  John  Ed- 
monds, of  London,  published,  in  two 
series,  under  the  title  of  "  The  Chil- 
dren's Chui'ch  at  Home,"  are  ad- 
mirable models  in  design,  and  are 
well  worth  the  study  of  those  who 
would  preach  wisely  to  children. 
The  outlines  of  a  few  of  them  are 
subjoined. 

Shining  Lamps.  —  ''An  said 
unto  me,  What  seest  thou?  And 
I  said,  I  have  looked,  and  behold  a 
candlestick  all  of  gold,  with  a  bowl 
upon  the  top  of  it,  and  his  seven 
lamps  thereon,  and  seven  pipes  to 
the  seven  lamps,  which  are  upon  the 
top  thereof:  And  two  olive  trees  by 
it,  one  upon  the  right  side  of  the 
bowl,  and  the  other  upon  the  left 
side  thereof"  (Zecli.  iv.  2,  3).  Every 
one  of  us  should  have  a  lamp,  or 
rather  be  a  lamp,  to  shine  out  into 
the  darkness  of  the  world,  o  ,  =  Now 
there  are  four  things  necessary  to  a 
lamp's  giving  light  properly.  It 
must  be — Ic  Lighted ;  II.  Set ;  III, 
Eed;  lY.  Trimmed. 

The  Farewell  Promise,  ^--^^^e 
which  testifieth  these  things  saith, 
Surely  I  come  quickly:  Amen.  Even 
so,  come.  Lord  Jesus'*  (Rev.  xxii. 
20).  "  Take  the  different  parts  of 
this  verse  as  they  stand,  and  you 
liave  three  things  for  considera- 
tion : — I.  A  description  of  Jesus  : 
*  He  which  testifieth  these  things.' 
II.  A  sayiny  of  Jesus :  '  Surely 
I  come  quickly:  Amen.'  III.  A 
prayer  to  Jesus :  *  Even  so,  come, 
Lord  Jesus.' " 

765.  Rev.  E.  G-.  Pardee,  M.A. 
— The  Child  Jesus. — Luke  ii.  40  : 
*'  And  the  Child  grew,  and  waxed 
strong  in  spirit,  filled  with  wisdom; 
and  the  grace  of  God  was  upon 
Him."  Grew  an  infant,  then  a  boy, 
afterward  a  man.  Laboured,  suffered, 
and  died  for  you,  for  me. 


I.  See  The  Child's  Strength.  ISTot 
like  Samson  or  David.  Strong  to  do 
God's  will,  to  do  right.  Resolute 
pui'pose,  will,  determination,  &c. 
Jesus  was  strong  to  learn,  to  teach, 
to  submit,  to  reprove  and  suffer. 
Strong  to  resist  the  world,  flesh, 
and  the  de^dl.  Strong  for  self- 
control. 

II.  See  The  ChikVs  Wealth,  mt 
Gold,  Diamonds,  &c.,  but  Wisdom. 
How  He  got  it  ?  He  gathered  it. 
Where  ?  Bible,  doctors  in  temple, 
from  the  Spirit,  from  the  world, 
&c. 

III.  See  The  Child's  Beauty.  The 
grace  of  God.  Wot  beauty  of  face. 
Perhaps  He  had  lost  His  beauty, 
"  His  face  was  so  marred."  It  was 
beauty  within ;  meek  and  quiet  spirit ; 
beauty  of  holiness,  of  obedience,  of 
humility,  of  love. 

1.  God  thought  Him  beautiful. 
"In  His  Father's  likeness,"  "All 
of  His  glory,"  &c. 

2.  Angels  thought  Him  beautiful. 
"  They  wondered  and  adored." 
"  Angels  desired  to  look." 

3.  Men  thought  Him  beautiful. 
"  The  Leper,  the  Demoniac,  the 
Blind,  the  Palsied,"  &c. 

Do  you  think  Him  beautiful  ?  or 
is  there  "no  beauty  in  Him  that 
you  should  desire  Him  ?" 

His  strength  He  will  give  to  you. 
"  My  strength  is  sufl&cient  for  thee." 

His  wealth  He  will  give  to  you. 
"Pnied  with  all  the  fulness  of 
Christ." 

His  Beauty  He  will  put  upon  you. 
"  No  spot  or  blemish." 

Oh  !  what  think  ye  of  Christ  ? — 

766.  Prof.  S.  A.  Norton.  No 
more  tears.  —  What  are  tears  ? 
Little  drops,  salt  like  water.  Where 
seen  ?  In  eye,  on  cheek,  on  pillow, 
copy-book,  mother's  lap. 

What  cause  tears  ?  Sudden  pain — 
a  fall,  a  knock — sickness,  death  of 
dear  ones,  passion,  disappointment, 


284 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL  WOELD. 


penitence,  sympathy,  sorrow  for 
others'  sins — like  David,  Psalm  cxix. 
136. 

All  cry,  good  as  well  as  bad  ;  even 
Jesus.  Luke  xix.  41 ;  Jolm  xi.  35. 
"Why  ?  Whence  comes  aU.  the 
trouble  that  brings  tears?  Sin. 
Every  sorrow  caused  by  some  sin. 
Christ's  sorrow  by  our  sin. 

How  happy  and  bright  a  child 
that  seldom  cries !  Suppose  never — 
how  happy  ? 

There  is  a  place  where  no  tears. 
Where — at  home,  in  Church,  in 
green  fields  ?  Tears  everywhere  in 
this  world.  Heaven.  There  all 
faces  bright,  all  hearts  happy. 
Yoices  not  crying,  not  complaining, 
but  singing  for  joy. 

Why  ?  Because  God  ivipes  all 
tears  atvay.  You  like  mother  to  do 
so ;  it  shows  her  love.  How  loving 
must  God  be — more  even  than  a 
mother.  Isaiah  xlix.  15.  Sometimes 
mother  can't  wipe  away  your  tears, 
for  she  can't  stop  sickness,  can't 
prevent  disappointment.  How  can 
God  wipe  all  away?  Because  He 
takes  away  what  brings  tears — sin. 
How?  (1)  Washed  away  by  blood 
of  Lamb ;  (2)  Driven  away  by 
Spirit  in  heart;  (3)  Put  away  for 
ever  from  heaven  and  all  who  are 
there 

Whose  eyes  ?  "  Their  "  —  the 
great  multitude,  Abel,  Moses,  David, 
Peter,  old  and  young,  kings  and 
beggars.     Shall  ive  he  amo7ig  them  ? 

On  earth  much  crjd.ng ;  in  heaven 
no  crying;  another  place  where 
nothing  hut  crying.  How  escape 
that  ?  Ask  God  to  take  away  all  sin 
for  Christ's  sake,  then  all  tears  go 
away  too. 

767.  Eev.  J.  0.  Gray.  Full 
Outlines  of  Addresses  and  Sermons 
to  Children. — Suhject :  The  child- 
hood of  Moses.  Text:  Exod.  ii. 
1 — 10.  Two  things  demand  especial 
notice : — the  hiding  and  the  finding 


of  Moses.  The  first  may  be  placed 
before  us  while  in  imagination  we 
spend  an  evening  in  the  cottage ;  the 
second  while  in  fancy  we  wander  by 
the  river  Nile.     Consider  then — 

I.  The  Evening  in  the  Cot- 
tage.— Here,  after  describing  an 
Egyptian  cottage,  introduce  (1)  The 
husy  family.  The  mother,  Miriam, 
Aaron,  all  at  work  :  Aaron  sorting 
rushes  and  laying  them  straight ; 
Miriam  plaiting  them ;  the  mother 
weaving  them  into  baskets.  One 
basket  is  larger  than  the  rest,  and 
strangely  shaped.  *'  Mother,  what 
is  it  for  ?  "  It  is  covered  with  pitch 
to  make  it  waterproof.  The  children 
are  talking  about  their  father. 
"Why  is  he  so  late?"— "He  is 
often  late  now." — "  Much  later  than 
he  used  to  be."  (2)  The  father's 
arrival.  Footsteps  heard.  Father's 
coming.  Miriam  opens  the  door. 
Aaron  runs  out,  and  is  presently 
brought  back  on  the  shoulders  of  a 
man,  laughing.  Father  looks  sad ; 
he  tells  them  how  hard  he  has  had  to 
work  in  the  brickfields,  how  cruel 
the  taskmaster  has  been,  has  to  find 
the  straw  as  well  as  make  the 
bricks.  They  notice  the  purple 
bruises  on  his  shoulders,  made  by  the 
whip.  (3)  The  concealed  child. 
The  baby  shown  to  the  father,  who 
asks  if  he's  all  right.,  A  sight  of 
the  beautiful  child  does  him  good, 
makes  him  forget  his  sorrows.  A  cry 
is  heard  in  a  neighbour's  house : 
some  Hebrew  mother,  whose  child  is 
being  killed.  Footsteps  coming. 
Hide  the  baby.  (4)  The  visit  of 
inspectio7i.  Soldiers.  "Have  you 
any  baby  here?"  "There  are  our 
children."  "What's  his  name?'^ 
"Aaron."  "How  old?"  "About 
three  years."  "He  may  live,  he 
was  born  before  the  king's  decree 
was  passed."  The  soldiers  retire^ 
The  family  retires  to  rest. 

IT.     The     Moening     by     the 
EiVEE.     (1)  A  mother^s  wonderful 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL  WOELD. 


285 


love.  Feeds  lier  cliild.  Places  him, 
asleep,  in  th.e  ark.  Carries  the  ark 
to  the  river.  The  Nile.  Crocodiles. 
She  has  faith  in  God.  Leaves  him 
with  a  prayer  for  his  safety.  Miriam 
set  to  watch.  (2)  A  ^jrincess's 
astonishing  discovery.  The  princess 
and  her  train.  Pharaoh's  daughter. 
Miriam's  fear.  The  ark  discovered 
and  opened.  A  child  !  *'  The  babe 
wept."  Power  of  tears.  God  nsed 
those  tears  to  melt  the  princess's 
heart.  A  Hebrew  child.  She  knew 
no  jigyptian  mother  had  need  to  hide 
her  child.  (3;  A  daughter's  dutiful 
obedience.  Miriam  did  not  wander 
off  to  play  forgetful  of  "ftie  task  that 
was  set.  Steps  forward.  Notes  the 
princess's  look  of  pity,  and  at  once 
said,  ''  Shall  I  fetch  thee  a  nurse," 
&c.  ?  ''Go."  (4)  The  chikVs  re- 
marhahle  preservation.  Miriam's 
good  news.  "Mother,  the  baby  is 
found  !  "Who  do  you  think  found 
it?"  The  mother's  fear  on  hearing 
it  was  Pharaoh's  daughter.  "  Nurse 
this  child  for  me."  Gratitude  of  the 
father  when  he  returns  at  night. 
The  soldiers  come  again,  and  are 
shown  the  princess's  seal.  So 
**  Moses  grew." 

Leaen  : — 1.  The  natural  defences 
of  little  children :  father's  toil, 
mother's  love,  brother's  and  sister's 
affection,  the  child's  own  innocence, 
beauty :  all  these  used  by  Provi- 
dence. 2.  Unnatural  foes  of  little 
children :  Herod,  Pharaoh,  now 
Satan.  3.  Sjyecial  hel])ers  of  little 
children  :  not  a  king's  daughter,  but 
the  King's  Son,  Jesus,  who  tells  us 
to  nurse  little  children  for  Him. 
Jesus  walks  by  the  river  of  life,  sees 
little  children  exposed  to  many 
perils.  He  walks  there  with  a  large 
train  of  attendants  : — S.  S.  teachers, 
&c.  He  says  to  these,  nurse  these 
little  ones  for  Me  (not  for  your- 
selves). He  bids  them  remove  the 
little  ones  from  danger.  To  parents, 
and  elder  brothers  and  sisters  also, 


He  gives  the  same  command.  "Who 
can  nurse  a  child  for  Jesus,  if  the 
mother  cannot  ?  Is  there  any  child 
here  in  danger  ?  Jesus  looks  and 
loves. 


768. 
duction. 


2  Kings  vi.  5.     Intro- 


Describe  scene  in  wood, 
men  felling  trees,  axe-head  flies 
off,  and  falls  into  water ;  vain 
efforts  to  recover  it;  great  sorrow. 
Why  ?  It  was  a  borrowed  axe.  The 
master  told.  The  miracle.  Subject, 
"  Take  care  of,  and  return,  borrowed 
things."     Otherwise,  consider  : — 

I.  The  injury  done  to  the  lender* 

1.  Loss   of,   or  injury  to  property. 

2.  His  temper  soured,  vexed  with 
loss,  &c.  3.  His  benevolence  marred, 
he  will  not  lend  again,  grows  selfish. 
4.  He  gets  an  ill  name  for  not  being 
obliging. 

II.  The  injury  do7ie  to  others.  If 
kindness  be  thus  abused,  the  needy 
can  never  borrow.  Hence  the  needy 
are  injured,  the  innocent  suffer  for 
the  guilty.  {III.  Some  one  borrows 
an  umbrella  and  does  not  return  it, 
the  lender  resolves  to  lend  no  more ; 
presently  a  friend  is  overtaken  by  a 
shower,  catches  a  cold,  &c.) 

III.  The  injury  done  to  yourself. 
Moral  sense  blunted.  Yain  excuses 
invented.  Ashamed  to  meet  the 
lender.  Prevarication,  falsehood. 
You  cannot  borrow  again.  Get  a 
bad  name  for  carelessness,  &c. 

Learn.  1.  Do  not  borrow  if  you 
can  help  it.  2.  Always  return 
promptly  and  uninjured.  3.  Be 
willing  to  lend.  4.  God  has  lent 
you  many  things — life,  &c. :  in 
what  form  have  you  returned  them  ? 

5.  Be  more  careful  of  things  bor- 
rowed than  of  your  own :  with  the 
latter  you  can  do  what  you  please, 
not  so  with  what  belongs  to  another. 

6.  God  wiU.  call  you  to  account  for 
what  He  has  lent  you. 

769.  Gen,  xxxi.  49,  Intro- 
duction,   Narrate  the  circumstances 


286 


SUNDAY  SCHOOL  WORLD. 


under  which  these  words  were  first 
spoken.  The  thing  taught  is  this : 
that  the  absent  should  be  rightly 
acted  towards,  as  in  the  sight  of  God. 
Such  words  may  be  well  spoken  on 
the  eve  of  separation : — 

I.  By  children  to  their  compa- 
nions. A  mutual  commending  of 
each  to  the  care  of  God.  If  the  fact 
be  remembered  that  God  watches 
over  absent  friends  and  us,  then  we 
shall  be  true  to  the  absent,  not  speak 
ill  of  them,  act  honourably  towards 
them,  keep  promises,  &c. 

II.  By  parents  to  their  children. 
Let  children  remember  that  God 
watches  between  them  and  their 
parents,  and  carefully  guard  their 
parents'  name  and  property  from 
harm.  You  wear  clothes  and  use 
books,  &c.,  that  your  parents  "v^^rked 
hard  to  get :  be  not  wasteful  or  care- 
less. God  watches  to  see  how  you 
requite  parental  love  and  labour. 

III.  By  teachers  to  their  scholars. 
The  school  will  soon  close ;  the  les- 
son will  soon  be  over  ;  you  are  about 
to  leave  us  for  another  week:  the 
Lord  watch  between  us.  Watching, 
He  will  see  us  prajdng  for  you  :  will 
He  see  you  trying  to  carry  out  our 
advice,  and  practise  our  lessons  ? 
Remember  you  are  Sunday -scholars. 
Try  to  do  us  credit.  Try  to  win  a 
good  name  for  our  Sunday-school. 

Leaeist  : — 

1.  The  time  wiU  soon  come  when 
we  shall  meet  in  heaven.  So  let 
us  act  that  we  may  not  be  ashamed 
to  meet. 

2.  How  are  you  acting  towards 
the  absent  Saviour  ? 


770. 


Eccles.  X.  10.     Intro- 


duction. See  ver.  9,  '  *  cleaveth  wood. ' ' 
Sketch  a  scene  in  a  wood  :  woodman 
felling  trees ;  hard,  knotty  wood  ; 
tools  soon  blunted  ;  woodman  has  to 
*'put  to  more  strength;"  previous 
fatigue  disqualifies  him  for  this  ;  he 
sharpens  his  tools,  and  then  works 


on,  &c.  ;  wisdom,  i.e.  his  sense  of 
what  is  fit,  directs  him.  If  he  were 
guided  by  co'tamon  sense,  his  work 
and  fatigue  would  be  less,  and  earn- 
ings greater.     Consider — 

I.  The  ivork  loe  have  to  do.  Trees, 
to  fell.  Ignorance,  had  habits,  social 
drawbacks,  natural  disqualijications 
to  overcome.  These  are  trees  of  hard 
wood. 

II.  The  tools  we  have  to  use.  We 
have  axes  to  use :  mind,  memory, 
resolution,  heart,  conscience.  These 
we  have  about  us.  There  are  others 
also,  as  books,  schools,  &c. 

III.  How  to  use  them.  Three 
ways : — 

1.  When  the  axe  gets  blunt,  whet 
it.  Exercise  thought,  memory,  feel- 
ing, &c. ;  study  books,  obey  teachers, 
&c. 

2.  Otherwise  put  on  more  strength* 
If  we  have  not  wherewith  to  whet  the 
iron,  we  must  be  more  diligent  with 
such  means  as  we  have. 

3.  The  best  way.  Whet  the  iron, 
and  put  on  strength  as  well.  To  do 
this,  seek  wisdom  profitable  to  direct: 
God  gives  it ;  we  all  need  it ;  all  may 
have  it. 

Hints : — 

1.  Seek  wisdom.    2.  Use  wisdom. 


771. 


Jud.    xi.    34.     Intro- 


duction. Jephthah's  dauorhter.  Sketch 
in  few  words  the  story  of  her  life* 
Her  history  brings  before  us : — 

I.  An  only  child  the  object  of  pa- 
rental love.  Note  the  great  love  of 
Jephthah  for  his  daughter.  It  all 
centred  in  this  one  child.  He  would 
work  and  plan  for  her  future  wel- 
fare. 

II.  An  only  child  the  source  of 
])arental  care  (v.  35).  III.  Anxiety 
of  parents  to  provide  food,  clothing, 
&c.,  for  their  children.  Special  care 
for  health,  &c.,  of  an  <'  only  child." 

III.  An  only  child  obedient  to  a 
parenfs  ivill.  In  this  case,  that  will 
had  determined  a  sad  lot  for  her. 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


287 


She  was  willing  to  obey.  Disobe- 
dience of  one  among  many  childi'en, 
a  sore  trial :  much  more  that  of  an 
only  child. 

lY.  An  only  child  ruined  hy  pa- 
tented rashness.  Not  by  rash  vows 
only  are  children  injured :  often  by 
over  indulgence,  or  bad  example. 
So  lost  to  goodness  and  truth,  «S;c. 

Leajix  : — 

1.  To  be  thankful  for  brothers  and 
sisters. 

2.  If  an  only  child,  strive  to  be  a 
comfort  and  joy  to  parents  and 
friends. 

3.  Think  of  the  child  Jesus— an 
only  child— who  did  His  Father's 
will,  lived  to  be  a  pattern  for  all 
childi^en,  and  died  to  save  them. 

772.  Eev.  J.  0.  Gray. — Subjects, 
and  heads  of  addresses  to  children. 
*  The  youthful  pilgrim  and  the  hea- 
venly guide  (Jer.  iii.  4). — I.  The 
journey;  II.  The  traveller;  III.  The 
guide. 

Youthful  reflections  (Eccl.  xii. 
1).— I.  The  duty;  II.  The  time; 
III.  The  reason. 

All  is  well  (2  Kings  iv.  26). — 
It  is  luell  when  temporal  needs  are 
supplied;  II.  Better  when  mental 
requirements  are  added ;  III.  Best  of 
all  when  the  soul  is  saved. 

Love.  For  the  house  of  Grod  (Ps. 
cxxii.  1). — I.  The  exhortation  given ; 

II.  The  joy  produced. 
Christ  receives  little  children  (Matt. 

xix.  13 — 15).  —  I.  His  displeasure 
towards  the  hinderers ;  II.  His  hearty 
welcome  to  the  children. 

The  young  disciple  ( Jno.  i.  40 — 42). 
— I.  His  love;   II.   His  obedience; 

III.  His  faith ;  lY.  His  humanitj^ ; 
Y.  His  zeal. 

The  good  child  cautioned  (Prov.  i. 
10). — I.  The  case  supposed ;  II.  The 
course  recommended. 

Pride  (Prov.  xvi.  5). — I.  Certain 
characters  described  ;  II.  God's 
opinion  of  them. 


Obedience  topxJirents  (Eph.  vi.  1). — 

I.  A  duty  enjoined;  II.  Spirit  of 
obedience  ;  III.  The  reason  given. 

Folloiving  good  advice  (2  Chron. 
X.  13,  14).— I.  The  young  prince; 

II.  His  foolish  companions  ;  III. 
Their  shallow  advice  ;  lY.  His  in- 
considerate conduct ;  Y.  The  deplor- 
able results. 

JIow  to  suffer  and  hoiv  to  act 
(Rom.  xii.  21).— I.  How  to  suffer; 
II.  How  to  act. 

The  p>^'incipal  thing  (Prov.  iv.  7). 
—I.  A  fact  stated ;  II.  A  duty  in- 
ferred. 

Suhmission  to  teachers  (1  Pet.  ii. 
13). _I.  The  Apostle's  injunction; 
II.  The  Apostle's  reason. 

The  call  of  Samuel  (1  Sam.  iii.  1 
_10)._I.  His  service  ;  II.  His  in- 
experience ;  III.  The  midnight 
voice ;  lY.  His  earnest  enquiry ;  Y. 
His  protapt  obedience. 

The  better  choice  (Prov.  xxii.  1). 
—I.  The  things  contrasted ;  II.  The 
thing  preferred. 

Knowledge  of  the  Bedeetner  (Job 
xix.  15). — I.  Explaia  wo7'd  Re- 
deemer ;  II.  Explain  the  jjroprietor- 
ship  ;  III.  Explain  the  knoivledge. 

God  hears  every  ivord  (Ps.  cxxxix. 
4).— I.  Children  talking;  II.  God 
listerdng. 

Seeking  and  finding  (Prov.  viii. 
17)._-I.  The  persons  addressed;  II. 
The  promise  given. 

Folloiving  good  advice  (2  Chron. 
XV.  2 — 15). — I.  The  interview;  II. 
The  prophet's  advice ;  III.  The  con- 
duct pursued;  lY.  The  results  that 
ensued. 

God  pities  us  (Ps.  cui.  13).— I. 
The  objects  of  His  pity;  II.  The 
nature  of  His  pity. 

The  clean  heart  (Ps.  li.  10).— 1. 
The  meaning   of   heart;     II.    The 
meaning  of   clean  heart; 
meaning  of  create ;    lY. 
need  a  clean  heart;    Y.  Why  we 
should  pray  for  it. 

The  secret  of  success  (Acts  xi. 


III.  The 

"Why  we 


288 


SUNDAY  SCHOOL  WOELD. 
/ 


22 — 24). — I.  The  character  of  Bar- 
nabas; II.  The  labours  of  Bar- 
nabas; III.  The  success  of  Bar- 
nabas. 

Young  Josiah  (2  Kings  xxii.  1.  2). 
—I.  The  evil  he  avoided;  II.  The 
virtue  he  practised. 

The  Christicm^s  Example  (1  Pet. 
ii.  21).— I.  The  pattern;  II.  The 
copy. 

Absalom  (2  Sam.  xiv.  25,  26, 
&c.) — I.    His  personal  appearance  ; 

II.  His  moral  character  ;  III.  His 
unfilial  conduct;  lY.  His  tragical 
end. 

Tijnothy  (2  Tim.  iii.  14,  15)— I. 
His  instructors ;    II.    His  studies ; 

III.  His  honourable  career. 

The  surrender  of  the  heart  (Prov. 
xxiii.  26). — I.  The  Divine  claim — 
the  heart ;  II.  The  ground  on  which 
it  is  made — "my  son." 

Seeking  the  Lord  (Ps.  xxvii.  8). — 
I.  The  request ;  II.  The  reply.  _ 

Hosanna  to  Jesus  (Matt.  xxi.  15, 
16).— The  children  singing  ;  II.  The 
priests,  &c.,  censuring  ;  III.  The 
children's  Friend  approving. 

Consideration  (1  Sam.  xii.  24). — 

I.  Something  to  think  about;  II. 
Something  to  do. 

Base  advantage  (1  Sam.  xxiv.  10), 
— I.  The  relentless  persecutor ;  II. 
The  magnanimous  fugitive. 

The  iKith  of  life  (Ps.  cxix.  9).— 
T.  The  anxious  enquiry;  II.  The 
faithful  reply. 

The  good  man^s  defence  (2  Kings 
vi.  16). — I.  The  good  man's  danger  ; 

II.  The  good  man's  confidence. 


Ignorance  of  self  (2  Kings  viii. 
13). — I.  We  do  not  know  the  temp- 
tations to  which  we  maybe  exposed; 

II.  We  do  not  know  how  weak  we 
may  be  when  the  hour  of  trial  comes. 

III.  Seek  help  from  God  against  the 
trials  of  the  future. 

3Ianasseh  (2  Chron.  xxxiii.  1 — 
19). — I.  His  wickedness ;  II.  His 
repentance ;  III.  His  end. 

Author  and  ohjects  of  Divine  in- 
struction (Isa.  liv.  13). — I.  The 
teacher;  II.  The  pupils;  III.  Sub- 
jects taught;  lY.  Results  of  in- 
struction. 

Children  a  heritage  (Ps.  cxxvii. 
3). — I.  The  value  of  this  heritage ; 

II.  Its  perils ;  III.  Its  capabilities ;, 
lY.  Its  cultivators. 

Religion  not  hereditary  (1  Sam. 
ii.  12).— I.  Character  of  Eli;  II. 
Of  his  sons ;  III.   Plain  inferences. 

Religious  education  (Pro.  xxii.  6). 
— I.   The  way;    II.   The  training; 

III.  The  encouragement. 

The  Royal  road  to  happiness  (Ps. 
xc.  14). — I.  A  universal  desire ;  II. 
How  to  obtain  it. 

3Iissions  (Matt.  xiii.  38). — I.  The 
greatness  of  the  area ;  II.  The  va- 
rieties of  the  soil ;  III.  The  diver- 
sity of  the  productions ;  lY.  The 
universally  suitable  seed. 

Zeal  (Gal.  iv.  8). —I.  Worthy 
objects  of  zeal ;  II.  Why  one  should 
be  zealous  about  them ;  III.  When 
one  should  be  zealous  about  good 
things. 


VII.    LIBRARY   AND    LIBRARIAN. 


THE  LIBEAEIAN. 

773.  His  Duties.— The  librarian's 
duties  now  fall  under  consideration ; 
nor  are  they  so  light  and  easy   as 
some    would    suppose ;   for  as  it  is 
usually  his  office  to  distribute   the 
books  in  the  classes  during  the  time 
of  teaching,  adaptation,  discernment 
of  character,  dispatch,  promptitude, 
quietude,  and  correctness,  are  essen- 
tial to  the   right  fulfilment  of  his 
office.     In  these  days,  the  propriety 
of  every  Sunday-school  possessing  a 
good   lending   library    is   generally 
acknowledged ;    the     comparatively 
few  schools  that  are  wholly  destitute 
of  one,  being  amongst  the  lowest,  as 
regards  both  efficiency  and  useful- 
ness.    If  we  impart  the  art  and  in- 
spu-e  the  taste  for  reading,  we  are 
certainly  bound  to  satisfy  the  new 
want  we  have  created.     Bad  books 
will  do  positive  injury.     The  child 
cannot   discern   between   good    and 
evil,  but  will  greedily  devour  what- 
ever comes  in  its  way ;  and,  in  in- 
stances   not   a  few,   our   effi)rts   to 
enforce  truth  on  the  Sabbath  will  be 
more  than  counteracted  by  the  vile 
polluting   publications   with   which 
the  vacant  hours  are  occupied.  That 
the  existing  library  system  has  ne- 
gatively accomplished  much,  in  pre- 
venting reading  of  an  immoral  cha- 
racter, there  can  be  no  doubt ;  but, 
with  all  our  varied  plans,  we  have 
hitherto   failed    in  making    it    the 
valuable  means  of  usefulness  it  is 


destined   before   long  to  become. — 
Davids. 

774:.  His  Qualifications. — Waldo 
Abbott  says  the  librarian  should  be 
a  smart,  active,  business  man,  that 
he  should  cover  or  cause  to  be  covered 
all  the    books  of    the  library  with 
heavy  brown  paper,  and  should  have 
a  label  pasted  on  the  outside  cover 
as  well  as   the  inside,  so  that  the 
books  will  not  creep  into  other  libra- 
ries.      There    ought   to  have  been 
added  two   other  qualifications — he 
should  be  a  man  of  good  nature,  and 
of  patience,  for  both  will  be  taxed. 
The  librarian  should  be  on  hand  be- 
fore the  hour  of  opening  the  school, 
should  open  the  library,  see  that  it 
is  in   order,  distribute  hymn-books 
and  class-books  before  the  superin- 
tendent is  ready  for  the  first  exer- 
cise, should  allow  no  one  to  go  to 
the  library,  and  should  himself  never 
disturb  a  teacher  or  class  while  the 
class   is  engaged   with   the   lesson. 
The   librarian   ought   to  know  the 
names  and  character  of  the  books 
on  the  library  shelves,  and,  as  far  as 
possible,  should  keep  posted  in  re- 
gard to  new  books,   and  report  on 
the  matter  to  the  pastor,  superin- 
tendent, or    committee    having  the 
purchase    of  new    books    in    hand. 
Some    schools,    instead    of    library 
books,  distribute  papers   each   Sab- 
bath,  or  at  least  four  Sabbaths  in 
the  month,  each  scholar  and  teacher 
receiving  a  paper.     In  cases  of  this 


290 


SITNDAT  SCHOOL   TYORLD. 


kind  the  librarian  can  lift  the  col- 
lection, keep  the  account  of  papers 
purchased  and  distributed,  and  at- 
tend to  any  other  work  to  which  the 
superintendent  may  assign  him. — 
House. 

lib.  Importance  of  his  office. — 
The  librarian's  office  is  an  important 
one.  He  should  be  one  of  the  most 
considerate,  watchful,  careful  young 
men  in  all  the  community,  for  his 
office  gives  him  much  prominence. 
He  should  open  the  library,  arrange 
it  in  order,  distribute  hymn  and 
class-books  before  the  school  opens, 
and  allow  no  unauthorised  person 
access  to  the  library.  He  will  be- 
come acquainted  with  the  general 
character  of  the  books,  as  well  as 
know  the  scholars,  that  he  may  in- 
telligently aid  them  in  their  selec- 
tions. He  will  also  ascertain  what 
class  of  books  is  most  in  demand. — 
Pardee. 


THE  LIBEAET. 

776.  A  Legitimate  Expense. — 
Another  legitimate  expense  is,  the 
library.  Parsimony  here  may  well 
be  deprecated.  It  should  be  liberally 
stocked  with  works  on  education, 
and  helps  to  teaching ;  expensive 
books,  quite  beyond  the  teacher's 
power  to  purchase,  should  be  placed 
at  his  command  by  the  church,  for 
whose  interests  he  so  imweariedly 
labours.  These  two  claims,  rent  of 
rooms  and  purchase  of  works  for 
the  library,  ought  to  be  the  chief 
standing  expenses  in  a  Sunday- 
school.  Donations  of  books,  and 
permission  to  teach  classes  in  private 
houses,  might  reduce  the  outlay  of 
actual  money  very  considerably.  We 
could  wish  that  the  latter  plan  were 
more  generally  adopted  ;    comfort- 


able, well-furnished  rooms  would 
often  secure  the  regular  attendance 
of  senior  scholars  ;  and  if  the  carpet 
be  a  little  worn,  or  the  clean  steps 
dirtied,  still  that  is  but  a  small 
sacrifice  for  a  Christian  to  make.  It 
is  the  duty  of  the  church  to  see 
that  aU  school  requisites,  forms, 
books,  &c.,  are  purchased  in  the 
cheapest  market ;  for  public  money 
is  not  our  own  property,  and  may 
not  be  expended  in  furthering  the 
interests  of  any  private  individual. 
— Davids. 

Ill,  An  Opinion.— May  I  be 
allowed  to  call  your  attention  to  the 
importance  of  taking  pains  to  pro- 
vide good  literature  for  those  in. 
whom  you  are  indirectly  cultivating 
a  taste  for  reading.  There  is  so 
much  mischievous  literature  abroad 
that  earnest  attention  is  indeed  de- 
manded to  provide  a  supply  of  books 
beneficial,  morally  and  intellec- 
tually, as  well  as  in  a  religious  point 
of  view. — Arthur  Kinnand,  31. P. 

IIB.  Selected  Hints=— A  good 
library  is  a  powerful  auxiliary  to  a 
Sunday-school.  Those  who  select 
books  for  a  Sunday-school  library 
have  a  very  responsible  task.  It  is 
difficult  to  judge  from  the  outside  of 
a  book  what  its  contents  are.  De- 
signing men  have  learned  that  Sun- 
day-school books  make  powerful  im- 
pressions upon  the  human  mind; 
hence  they  have  written  books  filled 
with  error  and  pernicious  principles. 
Be  on  your  guard  against  them.  It 
is  hazardous  to  attempt  to  make  up 
a  Sunday-school  library  from  the 
miscellaneous  publications  of  the 
day.  The  books  most  suitable  for 
this  purpose  will  be  found  bearing 
the  imprint  of  some  responsible 
Simday-school  Union.  The  best  of 
books  will  be  of  little  service  to 
either  teachers  or  scholars,  "onless 
they  are  carefully  read. 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


291 


779.  Sunday  Books.— Sabbath- 
school  books  and  papers  are  read 
mainly  on  the  Sabbath.  They  are 
universally  distributed  on  that  day, 
.and  are  received  by  the  children  as 
legitimate  and  proper  reading  for 
holy  time.  This  detines  their  cha- 
racter rigorously  in  one  most  impor- 
tant particular.  No  book  should  lind 
its  way  into  a  Sabbath-school  library, 
no  paper  should  be  circulated  in  the 
Sabbath-school,  that  is  not  strictly 
and  distinctly  religious  in  its  cha- 
racter. No  matter  how  interesting 
may  be  the  contents  of  a  book  or  a 
paper,  no  matter  how  much  useful 
and  curious  information  it  may  con- 
tain, or  how  poetical  and  beautiful 
its  sentiments,  if  it  does  not  dis- 
tinctly, and  with  no  uncertain  sound, 
inculcate  religious  and  scriptural 
truth,  it  has  no  place  or  business  in 
the  Sabbath-school. — Dr.  Hart. 

780.  Power  of  a  S.  S.  Library. 
— The  power  of  a  good  Sunday-school 
library  is  not  in  any  danger  of  being 
over-rated.  Books  for  childien, 
suitable  to  all  departments  of  enter- 
tainment or  instruction,  are  so  much 
more  general  than  they  once  were, 
and  so  desirably  within  the  reach  of 
all,  that  Sunday-school  books,  it  may 
be,  are  not  seized  with  the  same 
avidity  which  novelty  earlier  induced, 
but  there  is  a  power  in  them  never- 
theless. "We  remember  how  the 
little  marbled,  uniformlj^-bound 
volumes  used  to  be  loved  and 
cherished  in  a  certain  country 
village  ;  how  one  little  boy,  in 
accordance  with  the  regulation  of 
the  school,  used  weekly  to  bring 
back  the  story  of  Lame  John,  only 
to  take  it  again  for  the  ensuing 
week ;  how  he  read  it  at  intervals 
through  the  day,  slept  with  it  under 
his  pillow  at  night,  and  read  it  before 
he  was  up  in  the  morning,  or  made 
the  house  vocal  with  the  hymns 
interspersed  through  it.     The  sen- 


timent of  the  hymns  may  have  been 
thought  to  deserve  better  melody 
than  the  monotone  andante,  impro- 
vised and  "  crooned,"  as  Burns  would 
have  said,  to  each  alike,  but  they 
sounded  very  good  and  happy,  and 
I  doubt  not  he  remembers  every 
word  of  them  now.  Scarcely  less 
was  his  si!?ter's  appreciation  of  Anna 
JRoss.  Books  received  in  any  degiee 
as  these  were,  cannot  fail  to  exert 
influence  ;  if  they  are  more  plentiful 
than  they  then  were,  cause  and  (ffect 
still  have  the  same  relation ;  cause 
will  produce  adequate  effect,  and. 
simple,  purely-wi'itten  books,  fresh 
from  loving,  understanding  hearts, 
will,  if  they  have  the  vital  truth  in. 
them,  surely  be  warmly  received  by 
the  little  ones,  and  be  as  seed  bearing 
an  hundred  fold.  Like  all  things 
truly  excellent,  a  true  Sunday-school 
book,  let  us  be  allow^ed  to  say,  is 
comparatively  rare,  notwithstanding 
the  abundance  of  labour  in  the  field. 
A  book  to  come  home  to  children's 
hearts  cannot  in  any  degree  be 
written  mechanically.  It  must  be 
instinct  with  the  very  spirit  of  the 
writer,  and  with  living  truth.  The 
greater  the  number  of  such  books, 
obviously,  the  better  ;  and  the 
oftener  a  library  is  replenished  with 
them,  the  greater  the  opportunity  of 
doing  their  loving,  beautiful  work. 
Even  if  you  think  that,  having  a 
fair  supply,  you  can  afford  to  do 
without  books  undeniably  good,  be 
chary  of  neglecting  opportunities  to 
replenish,  lest  you  thus  put  aside  the 
means  of  obtaining  even  one  little 
work  which,  thus  precious  to  some- 
body, may  prove  a  life-power.  There 
are  always  numerous,  struggling 
schools  who  have  not  opportunities 
to  add  to  their  libraries,  or  possibly 
even  to  obtain  the  nucleus  of  one. 
Do  not  let  yourself  be  ignorant  of 
these  in  your  vicinity  ;  do  not  forget 
them  when  an  opportunity  of  adding 
to  your  own  collection  occurs.   Giving 

2 


292 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


to  them  of  the  old,  and  availing 
yourselves  of  the  new,  a  double 
good  is  secured ;  a  duty  to  self  and 
to  others  is  discharged. — M.  E.  C» 

781.  A  Settled  Question. — No 
review  of  Sabbath- school  agencies 
could  be  counted  at  all  complete, 
which  did  not  say  something  of  the 
books  and  papers  which  form  so  much 
of  the  stated  reading  of  the  scholars. 
It  has  indeed  come  to  be  regarded  as 
a  settled  question,  that  the  Sabbath- 
school,  as  a  matter  of  course^  will 
have  a  library,  and  almost  equally  a 
matter  of  course  that  the  scholars 
will  be  supplied  with  a  weekly  or 
monthly  paper.  The  amount  of 
reading  thus  furnished  to  the 
community  is  enormous.  Few 
persons  have  any  adequate  idea  of 
its  extent.  These  little  volumes 
are  despised  by  many  on  account 
of  their  diminutive  size.  One  big 
octavo  of  five  hundred  or  a  thousand 
pages  is  counted  as  equal  to  fifty  of 
these  lilliputians,  because,  perchance, 
the  big  book  has  as  many  printers' 
ems  as  the  fifty  little  books  have. 
But  in  estimating  the  amount  of 
reading  furnished  to  the  community 
by  any  particular  class  of  books,  a 
main  item  of  the  account  is  the 
number  of  times  each  book  is  likely 
to  be  read.  In  the  College  Library 
at  Princeton  is  a  collection  of  books 
presented  to  the  College  thirty  years 
or  more  ago  by  the  British  Govern- 
ment— some  two  hundred  gigantic 
folios,  containing  a  printed  copy  of 
Doomsday  Book,  and  of  the  other 
ancient  records  of  the  kingdom. 
"Would  the  historian  of  the  College, 
in  reckoning  up  the  influences  by 
which  the  minds  of  its  students 
have  been  shaped  during  these  last 
thirty  years,  dwell  much  upon  the 
vast  amount  of  reading  matter 
furnished  by  those  stupendous 
volumes  ?  Probably  not  one  page 
in  the   whole  collection    has    been 


read  by  a  single  student  in  all  that 
time.  Certainly  there  is  in  that 
library  many  a  volume,  small  enough 
to  be  carried  in  the  pocket,  which 
in  its  real  influence  has  singly 
outweighed  the  whole  of  that  im- 
perial collection. — Dr,  Hart. 

782.  Sabbath-school  Literaturei 
— The  Rev.  Albert  Barnes,  the  dis- 
tinguished American  minister  and 
author,  in  his  new  book.  Evidences 
of  Christianity,  has  the  following 
interesting  thoughts,  which  apply 
equally  to  the  state  of  the  Sabbath- 
school  cause  on  both  sides  of  the 
Atlantic: — "Christianity  has  origi- 
nated a  new  form  of  literature  wholly 
its  own, — a  literature  not  known 
under  any  ancient  form  of  mytho- 
logy, not  known  under  any  form  of 
modern  heathenism,  not  known  to 
infidelity,  not  known  to  philosophy  ; 
and  it  has,  at  the  same  time,  origi- 
nated an  institution  most  effective 
for  applying  that  literature,  and  for 
securing  its  own  influence  over  the 
young — I  allude  to  the  Sabbath- 
school,  and  to  the  literature  which 
has  been  originated  by  that  institu- 
tion. This,  if  there  were  nothing 
else,  would  show  that  Chiistianity, 
in  its  efforts  to  perpetuate  and  pro- 
pagate itself,  is  quite  abreast  of  the 
world.  The  literature  of  the  Sab- 
bath-school may  not  be,  in  respect 
to  quality,  all  that  could  be  desired ; 
but  it  may  be  doubted  whether  there 
is  any  other  department  of  literature 
that  is  exerting  as  much  influence  on 
the  destinies  of  mankind.  Infidelity, 
Mohammedanism,  and  Buddhism, 
have  no  peculiar  literature  for  the 
young,  nor  have  they  any  peculiar 
institution  where  to  inculcate  their 
sentiments  on  the  young.  Science, 
with  great  difficulty,  prepares  books 
for  the  young ;  but  its  literature  in 
astronomy,  botany,  chemistry,  de- 
signed to  guide  the  young,  as  com- 
pared with    the    literature   of   the 


STJNDAY  SCHOOL  WOELD. 


293 


Sabbath-scliool,  is  meagre  in  tlie 
extreme.  Tlie  Sabbath- school  and 
the  Sabbath-school  library  stand  by 
themselves.  Both  capable,  imdoubt- 
edly,  of  great  improvement,  they 
are,  nevertheless,  exerting  a  vast 
power  on  the  coming  generation; 
and  it  is  difficnlt  to  see  how  a  re- 
ligion that  has  such  an  agency  as 
the  Sabbath-school  could  be  exter- 
minated from  the  world.  One  day 
during  each  week,  of  every  month 
in  the  year,  the  children  of  this 
nation  are  brought  directly  under 
Christian  instruction,  with  all  the 
advantages,  in  theory  at  least,  of 
calling  into  the  service  the  best 
talent,  the  highest  intelligence,  the 
warmest  piety,  the  most  devoted 
zeal,  existing  in  the  churches. 
Thi'ough  all  the  States  of  the  Union, 
and  in  all  the  territories,  by  agen- 
cies of  its  own,  that  literature  is 
placed  in  the  hands  of  the  young, 
before  other  influences  are  brought 
to  bear  on  them,  to  form  their 
opinions,  to  make  their  hearts  pure, 
to  teach  them  to  believe  the  Bible, 
and  to  love  and  serve  God." 

783.  Opinions  on  Library  Books. 
— There  is  wide  difference  of  opinion 
as  to  the  character  of  the  books 
which  should  be  allowed  in  the 
Simday- school  library.  Shall  books 
of  secular  interest  be  allowed,  or 
only  those  of  a  purely  religious  cha- 
racter? In  this  respect  there  are 
two  things  to  be  noted:  1st.  The 
difference  between  town  and  coun- 
try. In  a  place  where  the  Sunday- 
school  library  is  the  only  one  ac- 
cessible to  the  children,  and  where 
books  are  scarce  in  their  houses,  I 
would  give  very  wide  latitude  to 
the  choice ;  while  in  the  city,  where 
every  house  is  almost  crammed  with 
books,  and  there  are  many  libraries 
open  to  all,  I  would  restrict  the 
Sunday-school  library  more  closely. 
2d.  The  last  few  years  have  fur- 


nished us  with  an  admirable  Sun- 
day-school literature ;  and  there  is 
no  need  of  going  outside  of  religious 
works  to  find  interesting  volumes. — 
R.  W.  Raymondy  Brooklyn,  N.  Y, 

784.  Value  of  Sunday-school 
Library. — "We  have  a  very  high  ap- 
preciation of  the  value  of  a  good 
Sabbath-school  library.  It  seems  to 
me  that  no  method  of  circulating 
sound  religious  reading  is  superior 
to  this.  The  books,  however,  re- 
quire to  be  selected  and  adapted 
with  the  greatest  care.  This  is  cer- 
tainly a  difficult  matter,  but  the 
object  to  be  attained  is  so  great  as 
to  reward  the  effort.  Many  schools 
are  now  flooded  with  the  most 
vicious,  improper  books.  There  is 
no  justifiable  excuse  for  this.  Kever 
were  there  so  many  good  books  for 
childi-en  and  youth  as  now.  Several 
hundreds  that  teach  the  soundest 
Christian  morals  and  are  true  to 
life,  and  filled  with  the  soundest 
evangelical  Bible  instruction,  can 
now  be  selected.  There  is  scarcely 
a  shadow  of  excuse  at  the  present 
time  for  admitting  even  a  doubtful 
book  into  our  Sabbath-school  libra- 
ries— unless  some  will  accept  the 
plea  of  ignorance  and  laziness.  Our 
children's  minds  should  be  as  sa- 
credly guarded  from  poisonous  books 
as  their  bodies  from  poisonous  drugs. 
There  should  be  a  judicious  stand- 
ing committee  in  every  school  to 
select  library  books,  while  the  pas- 
tor should  always  carefully  revise 
their  selection. — Pardee. 


785. 


I   do    not   think   the 


importance  of  the  Sabbath-school 
Library  has  been  at  all  adequately 
recognised.  It  is  a  great  privilege 
to  have  to  such  an  extent  the  direct- 
ing of  the  children's  reading  through 
the  Sabbath-school.  At  a  time  when 
what  is  read  is  longest  remembered, 


-7^ 


294 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


and  is  most  likely  to  produce  im- 
pression and  be  influential  for  good 
or  evil,  it  is  a  great  opportunity 
"which  we  have  of  pre-occupying  the 
ground  and  sowing  the  good  seed 
before  the  enemy  has  cast  in  his 
tares.  There  are  many  homes  into 
which  the  only  book  that  is  admitted, 
of  a  religious  character,  or  even  of  a 
healthy  tone,  is  the  book  from  the 
Sabbath-school  library.  Taking  into 
account  the  number  of  the  other  in- 
mates who  may  be  induced  to  read  it 
and  be  benefited  by  it,  if  the  book  is  of 
the  right  stamp,  we  may  in  this  way 
do  largely  the  work  of  colporteurs 
and  missionaries,  and  that  in  the 
most  favourable  cbcumstances  con- 
ceivable. Considering  the  spread  of 
education,  and  the  demand  for  lite- 
rature, good  or  bad,  among  all 
classes  of  our  people,  the  supplying 
of  good  and  suitable  Sabbath-school 
libraries  seems  to  me  to  demand  the 
earnest  attention  of  all  who  are  in- 
terested in  the  welfare  of  our  coun- 
try ;  and  the  increased  co-operation 
of  publishers  and  societies  in  making 
up  such  libraries  and  supplying  them 
on  liberal  terms  is  greatly  to  be  de- 
sii-ed. — Rev.  J.  H.  Wilson^  M.A. 

786.  Attractive  Books.  —  The 
books  of  the  Sabbath- school  library 
must  be  attractive  and  interesting, 
or  they  will  not  be  read  by  the 
young.  They  must  be  true  to  life 
and  fact,  or  they  will  prove  per- 
nicious. They  must  be  instructive, 
or  they  should  find  no  place  in  the 
library.  They  should  be  adapted  to 
awaken,  convict,  and  convert,  to 
nourish  in  the  religious  life  and 
morals,  and  throw  light  upon  all  the 
pathway  of  every-day  practical  life, 
or  they  will  fall  short  of  meeting 
the  great  want.  They  must  strictly 
conform  in  all  things  to  the  Bible 
standard,  or  they  should  never  be 
found  in  any  of  our  Sunday-school 
libraries. — Pardee. 


787.  Corrupting  Juvenile  Lite- 
rature.— Conversing  the  other  day 
with  an  excellent  philanthropist,  a 
member  of  Parliament,  whose  con- 
sideration for  the  social  welfare  of 
the  poor  is  only  exceeded  by  his 
anxiety  for  their  spiritual  advance- 
ment, we  promised  to  obtain,  read, 
and  indicate  the  contents  of  the  most 
popular  of  the  many  serials  which 
are  read  with  such  great  avidity  by 
boys.  The  recent  police  cases — of 
burglary,  robbery,  garrotting,  and 
murder — which  have  come  to  light, 
and  have  aroused  public  attention, 
have  exhibited  the  natural  tendency 
of  the  works  which  are  so  largely 
corrupting  the  minds  of  youths. 
They  seem  to  be  the  link  which 
connects  the  nursery  with  the  gal- 
lows— for  long  before  children  grow 
into  their  teens,  they  manage  to  ob- 
tain the  penny  rubbish  which  gives 
them  an  early  taste  for  sinful  plea- 
siu'es.  The  mischievous  tendency  of 
this  kind  of  literature  cannot  be 
over  estimated.  Eead  in  the  light  of 
the  recent  police  cases,  they  reveal 
the  true  kind  of  education  which 
they  are  imparting  to  the  young — 
an  education  that  is  fitting  them  for 
a  degraded  life  of  immoral  slavery, 
and  for  a  future  existence  of  unend- 
ing and  unutterable  woe.  If  the 
Saviour  has  His  servants  whose  duty 
it  is  to  win  young  hearts  to  Him  who 
lovingly  said,  "  Suffer  little  children 
to  come  unto  Me,"  Satan  also,  in 
matchless  daring,  is  by  no  means 
behind  in  the  use  of  appliances  for 
bringing  the  souls  of  the  young  to 
his  hideous  embrace.  And,  perhaps, 
there  are  fewer  means  of  accom- 
plishing his  foul  purposes  more  in- 
sinuating and  revolting  than  that 
provided  by  the  publishers  of  the 
coarse  and  criminal  literature,  of 
which  some  of  the  most  creditable 
specimens  are  now  lying  on  my 
table.      Creditable,  did  I  say?     If 


SUNDAY  SCHOOL  WOELD. 


295 


these  be  decent,  what  must  be  the 
character  of  some  of  the  more  atro- 
cious ?  There  are  twelve  penny- 
numbers  of  twelve  distinct  tales 
before  me.  Some  of  them  bear  in 
the  imprint  the  publisher's  name, 
but  the  majority  are  announced  as 
"printed  and  published  at  the 
office."  The  covers  are  gaudy,  and 
are  illustrated  by  sensational  wood- 
cuts. .  .  .  Every  page  of  this 
juvenile  literature  teems  with  the 
most  demoralising  allusions ;  and 
imdisguisedly  the  object  of  the 
writers  is  to  exalt  the  characters  of 
the  vilest  street  strumpets,  and  to 
show  that  vice  is  not  quite  so  hideous 
as  it  appears. — Edward  Leach,  in 
the  "  Sword  and  the  Trowel.''^ 

788.  Unsound  Books.  —  Better 
have  no  books  than  to  have  unsound 
ones.  Spare  no  pains  to  procure  an 
abundance  of  good,  sound,  attrac- 
tive, and  useful  reading,  and  we 
ivill  soon  drive  away  the  flood  of 
bad  books  which  is  now  threatening 
to  destroy  our  youth.  Several  cojnes 
of  superior  books  should  be  placed  in 
the  library  at  the  same  time.  Select 
such  as  are  adapted  to  all  ages  and 
conditions,  from  the  children  in  the 
infant-school  up  to  the  wide-awake 
young  men  and  women  in  our 
highest  adult  Bible  classes,  and  to 
teachers.  Let  them  also  cover  all 
stages  of  religious  feeling  and  want. 
Books  of  narrative,  history,  bio- 
graphy, youthful  Christian  experi- 
ence and  training,  on  temperance, 
good  morals,  good  habits  and  man- 
ners, should  all  be  provided  for  the 
thorough  religious  instruction  of  our 
children  and  youth.  The  library 
should  also  comprise  a  good  teacher's 
library  with  good  reference  Bibles,  a 
concordance,  and  dictionary.  Then 
give  the  books  the  largest,  freest,  and 
most  active  circulation. — Pardee. 

789.  Abuses. — Besides  the  loss  of 
time,  the  waste,  the  interruption,  and 


disorder,  attendant  upon  the  use  of 
the  library,  there  are  other  evils  even 
more  serious.  Books  creep  into  our 
libraries  that  have  no  business  there. 
I  never  saw  a  Sabbath- school  library 
yet  in  one  of  our  large  city  schools, 
which  would  not  have  been  enriched 
by  having  a  goodly  portion  of  its 
contents  committed  to  the  flames. 
Not  that  the  books  are  bad,  in  the 
sense  of  containing  what  is  in  itself 
objectionable,  but  some  are  merely 
exciting  stories  that  convey  no  reli- 
gious instruction  or  Scripture  truth. 
Still  more  are  utterly  dull  and 
heavy,  such  as  a  child  can  by  no 
possibility  be  induced  to  read.  Look 
over  the  shelves.  You  know  a  book 
of  this  kind  the  moment  you  see  it. 
There  it  stands,  untouched  and 
clean,  year  after  year.  But  how  can 
the  evil  be  avoided  ?  Some  of  these 
libraries  contain  many  hundred 
volumes.  They  must  do  so  in  order 
to  have  enough  to  accommodate  the 
children.  But  how  can  the  super- 
intendent or  the  teachers  sit  down  to 
read  all  the  books  that  are  ofiered  to 
their  choice,  and  make  an  intelligent 
selection  ?  It  is  impossible.  The 
books  now  published  by  the  various 
houses  engaged  in  supplying  this 
species  of  literature  cannot  be  less 
than  four  thousand.  No  teacher  can 
expect  to  be  acquainted  with  them 
all.— Z);-.  Hart. 

790.  A  Great  Mistake.  —  Dis- 
turbed by  a  sense  of  responsibility  in 
this  matter,  and  vexed  by  the  petty 
annoyances  which  the  library  gives 
in  the  school,  some  superintendents 
are  disposed  at  times  to  throw  the 
whole  thing  overboard,  and  not  to 
have  any  library  in  the  school  at  all. 
This  would  certainly  be  a  great 
mistake.  I  speak  from  no  small 
experience  in  this  matter,  and  from 
actual  observation  among  the  class  of 
people  to  whom  the  Sabbath-school 
itself  is  most  important,  and  I  feel 


296 


SUin)AY  SCHOOL   WOKLD. 


quite  sure  tliat  the  institution  would 
be  shorn  of  one  of  its  main  elements 
of  usefulness,  if  the  library  were 
abandoned.  The  library  book,  and 
the  child's  paper,  carry  the  blessed 
influence  of  the  Sabbath-school  home 
to  the  father  and  the  mother,  to  the 
older  and  the  younger  children,  to 
friends  and  neighbours.  These 
silent  messengers  preach  weekly  to 
hundreds  of  thousands  who  can  be 
reached  by  no  other  agency.  By 
means  of  the  library,  skilfully  used, 
the  teacher  may  continue  and  sup- 
plement his  lessons  all  the  week 
round.  The  library,  therefore,  can- 
not be  given  up.  It  is  too  great  an 
element  of  usefulness.  It  is  too  dear 
to  the  children,  particularly  to  the 
children  of  the  poor. — Dr.  Hart. 

791.  Old  Library  Books.— It 
teaches  the  children  selfishness  to 
see  an  old  box  or  out  of  the  way  cup- 
board packed  with  old  Sunday-school 
books  which  have  served  out  their 
time  in  their  Sunday- school,  but 
which  might  be  a  blessing  to  some 
poor  mission-school  just  struggling 
into  existence.  I  have  known  ap- 
peals made  for  these  old  books,  but 
the  request  was  coldly  put  aside, 
with  the  remark  that  they  might  be 
useful  again  sometime ;  so  the  old 
books  were  craromed  into  a  closet 
under  the  gallery  stairs,  there  to 
gather  mildew  and  mould  until  they 
were  hardly  fit  for  the  rag  man. 
How  much  better  to  get  some  good 
brother  or  sister  skilful  in  such 
work,  to  look  over  the  old  books, 
make  up  a  nice  parcel  of  them,  and 
present  them  to  some  needy  school. 
Invite  the  children  to  bring  all  the 
papers  they  have  to  spare,  and  add 
them  to  the  donation.  If  they  are 
to  be  sent  abroad  it  will  require  a 
few  shillings  express  charges,  but  be 
sure  and  let  the  children  pay  for  it. — 
Mrs.  McConaughy. 


792.  Example  and  Precept. — 
[  — Example  is  something  more  even 
than  a  means  of  teaching.  It  is 
contagious.  We  not  only  learn  how 
to  do  a  thing  by  seeing  it  done,  but 
•the  sight  of  it  in  others  is  persuasive 
to  us  to  do  it  ourselves.  Example 
allures  as  well  as  teaches.  It  leads 
to  imitation  in  evil  as  well  as  good. 
One  crime  is  often  the  parent  of 
others.  So  well  is  this  understood, 
that  legislators  in  many  parts  of  the 
world  have  now  ordered  all  execu- 
tions for  crime  to  be  made  in  private. 
The  terror  of-  punishment,  as  a 
motive  to  deter  others  from  crime,  is 
not  so  powerful  as  is  the  example 
itself  in  producing  imitations.  Cri- 
minal statistics  abundantly  prove 
that  public  hangings  for  mui'der  have 
been  among  the  most  prolific  provo- 
catives of  murder.  Such  works  as 
"  The  Pirate's  Own  Book,"  no  matter 
how  truthful  may  be  their  records, 
or  how  faithfully  they  may  portray 
the  dreadful  end  of  crnne,  are  yet 
most  fruitful  sources  of  crime.  It  is 
as  if  the  reader  saw  the  wicked 
deed ;  and  it  is  a  well  understood 
principle  of  human  nature,  that 
what  we  see  done  we  are  instinc- 
tively tempted  to  do  ourselves.  —Dr. 
Hart. 

793.  Essay  ^on  Sunday-school 
Library. — There  seems  to  me  to  be 
three  points  in  regard  to  the  library 
of  a  Sabbath-school,  which  ought 
briefly  to  be  noticed,  viz. :  its  neces- 
sity, materials  of  which  it  is  com- 
posed, and  the  best  method  of  using 
it.  Upon  each  of  these  points  I  feel 
bound  to  say  a  few  words. 

I.  The  necessity  of  a  library. 
Sabbath- schools  have  been  esta- 
blished without  libraries,  and  by 
proper  effort,  may  do  good ;  but 
they  soon  drag  heavily  and  droop. 
Others  have  very  poor  libraries,  and 
the  teachers  cannot  see  the  need  of 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


297 


ha"STag  them  made  good  and  com- 
plete. Let  me  tell  you  what  a  good 
library,  properly  managed,  will 
generally  do. 

1.  It  icill  create  a  taste  for  read- 
ing.    You  go  into  some  families,  and 
the  parents  will  tell  you  that  their 
children  "  do  not  love  books,  do  not 
take   to   books,    or   do  not  take  to 
learning : "    in    other    words,    their 
children  have  no  taste   for  books. 
The  parents  think  it  is   a  kind  of 
destiny.     Their  children  are  doomed 
to  be  comparatively  ignorant,  while 
some  families,  which  they  can  name, 
are  growing  up  fond  of  books.     Now 
all  the  destiny  there  is  about  this  is, 
that  the  children  do  not  have  suita- 
ble  books.      Any   child   and   every 
child  will  love  books,  if  you  will  put 
suitable  books  into  its  hands,  before 
it   leaves    the    cradle.      But   many 
families  have  no  such  books,  feel  as 
if  it  was  money  thrown  away  to  buy 
them.     The   child  sees  nothing  but 
the  big  Bible,  perhaps  a  volume  of 
sermons,  an  old  geography,  or  a  few 
newspapers ;    these    constitute     the 
library  of  the  house,  and  is  it  any 
wonder   that  there  is  no  taste   for 
reading  ?     Any  wonder  that   every 
association  connected  with  a  book  is 
gloomy  and  almost    painful  ?     ISTow 
the   library  of    the    Sabbath-school 
meets  this  very  difficulty  ;    it   fur- 
nishes reading  suited  to  the  child's 
capacity,  deepens  the  impression  by 
cuts  and  pictures,  and  creates,  gra- 
dually, in  him  a  confidence  that  even 
he  can  master  the  contents  of  a  book ; 
and  when  this  is  once  done,  the  child 
has   acquired    a  taste   for   reading. 
This  acquisition,  I  hardly  need  say, 
will  be  a  treasure  to  him.     The  hap- 
piness, the  respectability,  and  I  had 
almost  said,  the  salvation  of  a  child, 
are  near  being  insured,  when  once 
lie  has  acquii^ed  a  decided  taste  for 
reading.      Every  library   should  be 
selected  with  this  in  view. 

2.  It  ivill  supply  those  tvith  hooks 


loho  otherivise  tvoidd  never  have 
them.  I  speak  not  of  those  destitute 
parts  of  the  world,  such .  as  new 
settlements  and  nations  emerging 
from  heathenism,  where  a  book  is  a 
rarity,  but  of  our  most  favoured 
portions  of  country.  Every  parish 
and  every  school  will  contain  fami- 
lies too  poor,  or  too  ignorant,  or  too 
parsimonious,  to  procure  books  for 
their  childi'cn.  Thousands  and  thou- 
sands are  now  reading  the  books  of 
the  Sabbath- school,  who  would  other- 
wise be  entu-ely  destitute.  A  library 
owned  by  a  Sabbath- school  answers 
almost  as  good  a  purpose  as  having 
each  family  own  it;  and  in  cases 
where  filth  and  ignorance  prevail, 
even  better.  It  carries  light  to  all, 
quenches  the  thirst  of  all,  and  goes 
where  nothing  else  can  go. 

3.  A  library  occupies  the  vacant 
hours  of  children.  I  have  already 
said  so  much  on  the  importance  of 
habits,  that  I  am  almost  afraid  to 
use  the  word  again :  and  yet  when 
the  question  comes,  what  shall  be 
done  with  the  leisure  moments,  and 
fragments  of  time,  wliich  the  chil- 
dren of  every  family  have,  I  cannot 
but  again  allude  to  it,  and  say  that 
the  habit  of  reading  during  this 
leisui'C  is  unspeakably  important. 
Put  suitable  books,  attractive  books, 
into  the  hands  of  childi'en,  and  they 
will,  insensibly  to  themselves,  form 
the  habit  of  occupying  these  seasons 
with  reading.  These  habits  will 
abide  through  life,  and  will  be  an 
increasing  blessing. 

4.  A  library  will  create  taste  and 
draw  out  genius.  All  who  remember 
their  childhood,  and  who  does  not 
remember  it,  can  look  back,  and  see 
that  this  or  that  bias  was  given  to 
their  character  ;  this  and  that  last- 
ing impression  was  made  by  such 
and  such  books  which  they  read.  A 
few  years  ago,  and  the  reading  for 
children  was  of  'the  most  prepos- 
terous kiad  ;  the  most  unreal  scenes, 


298 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


the  most  foolisl^  stories,  the  most 
frightful  inventions  were  the  com- 
panions of  the  nursery.  These  made 
'impressions  which  lasted  through 
life.  Thanks  be  to  God,  this  rub- 
bish and  trash  is  passing  away. 
Minds  of  the  first  order  are  now 
engaged  in  preparing  books  for  the 
young.  Genius  feels  honoured,  in 
being  allowed  to  cater  for  the  mind, 
destined  to  be  immortal,  when  it 
commences  its  existence.  And  though 
we  have  accounts  of  ministers  and 
missionaries  who  have  been  raised 
up  in  the  Sabbath-school,  yet  I  do 
not  believe  these  are  all  who  have 
become  great  and  good  by  means  of 
this  institution.  And  I  believe  there 
are  minds  forming  there,  and  taste 
creating  there,  and  genius  growing 
there,  which  will  hereafter  wield  the 
pen  and  pour  out  the  thought  which 
will  affect  the  earth.  It  is  not  to 
be  a  long  time  before  the  taste,  the 
literature,  and  the  genius  of  the 
earth,  will  be,  to  a  great  degree, 
nurtured  in  the  Sabbath- school.  The 
libraries  will  help  to  do  the  work. 

5.  A  library  loill  refine  and  ele- 
vate the  intercourse  between  pareiits 
and  children,  and  between  the  chil- 
dren themselves.  Much  that  is 
foolish,  and  much  that  is  vulgar,  in 
the  intercourse  between  families,  and 
between  children,  arises  from  the 
vacuity  of  the  mind.  They  have  no 
ideas,  nothing  to  talk  about.  Not 
so  when  that  family  have  access  to  a 
library,  and  once  acquire  the  habit 
of  reading.  The  conversation  among 
children  is  soon  perceived  to  be  more 
refined  ;  the  intercourse  between  the 
parents  and  the  children  is  gradually 
softened,  more  gentle,  and  more 
amiable.  There  is  a  tendency  in 
books  to  refine  and  soften  character, 
which  is  irresistible.  A  vulgar  man, 
either  in  words  or  in  thoughts,  can- 
not be  a  man  who  reads.  How  many 
hints  will  parents  receive  from  these 
books  which  they  will  gradually  in- 


corporate into  their  system  of  family 
management!  how  many  rebukes 
will  they  receive,  without  the  mor- 
tification usually  connected  with  re- 
proofs !  how  many  impressions  will 
they  receive,  which  will  gradually 
but  certainly  modify  their  character! 
And  how  many  impressions,  for  it 
must  be  remembered  that  it  is  m- 
2)ressions  which  form  the  character 
of  children,  will  children  receive 
from  those  books,  which  will  make 
them  more  kind  and  dutiful  at  home, 
more  docile  and  modest  abroad, 
more  free  from  that  boisterous  im- 
pudence which  is  so  common  an 
attendant  upon  a  bad  education. 
Every  family  circle  into  which  the 
books  of  the  Sabbath-school  library 
are  admitted,  will  be  softened  and 
refined.  Of  this,  from  what  I  have 
seen,  I  have  not  a  doubt. 

6.  The  library  icill  attach  the 
scholars  to  the  school.  Every  human 
mind  wants  something  towards  which 
it  can  look  forward.  If  the  child 
has  nothing  else  to  do,  but  to  go  and 
recite  his  lesson  and  hear  the  re- 
marks of  his  teacher,  he  will  soon 
become  weary.  But  he  looks  for- 
ward. At  the  close  of  the  next 
Sabbath,  he  will  receive  a  new  book. 
It  is  his  property,  intrusted  solely 
to  him  for  a  whole  fortnight.  The 
trust  is  pleasant.  The  prospect  of 
pleasure  to  be  derived  from  reading 
is  cheering ;  the  curiosity  awakened 
as  to  the  book  which  he  will  receive, 
is  a  stimulus.  But  in  addition  to 
this,  he  knows  that  his  parents  are 
delighted  with  the  books,  his  home 
is  rendered  more  pleasant,  new  books 
will  be  added  every  year,  and  shortly 
he  will  have  a  larger  book,  and  then 
a  larger,  till  he  has  read  them  a,ll, 
and  is  master  of  all  they  contain. 
These  pleasures,  these  hopes,  this 
stimulus,  will  hold  the  child  to  the 
Sabbath-school,  year  after  year,  till 
the  great  design  of  the  system  has 
been  realised  in  his  case. 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOPtLD. 


299 


lead  the  soul  to  God,  they  frequently 
do  it  by  leading  to  the  house  of 
God,  or  to  a  conversation  with  some 
faithful  friend,  such  as  the  teacher, 
or  to  the  Word  of  God  and  prayer, 
till  it  is  finally  brought  into  the  fold 
of  Christ.  I  suppose  half  a  Tolume 
might  now  be  wi'itten  containing 
authentic  accounts  of  the  good  done 
to  the  souls  of  men  by  means  of 
libraries,  and  doubtless  the  day  of 
will  reveal  thousands 
more.  But  in  the  waste  places 
of  Zion,  where  the  sound  of  the 
"  church-going  bell "  is  never  heard, 
how  has  the  aching;  heart  of  the 
widowed  mother  been  made  to  re- 
joice when  her  smiling  boy  returned 
through  the  little  foot-path  of  the 
consequence    of  the   arrows     which  '  forest  from  the  distant  school,  bring- 


7.  The  library  tcill  do  good  ivhere 
nothing  else  can.  You  know  of  a 
family  in  which  profaneness,  for 
example,  is  indulged;  you  cannot 
yoiu?self  reprove  it  successfully  ;  you 
cannot  send  the  tract  which  will 
meet  the  case  —  suspicion  would 
awake ; — but  you  can  aid  the  child 
to  select,  and  encourage  him  to  read 
aloud  at  home,  the  book  which  will 
be  a  mirror  in  which  that  family 
may  see  their  likeness.  So  of  in-  judgment 
temperance,  or  of  any  other  known 
sin.  There  are  books  prepared  to 
meet  all  these  cases ;  and  they  are 
so  well  aimed  that  they  will  hit  the 
game.  Many  a  family  have  been 
drawn  to  the  house  of  God,  and  have 
become  permanent   worshippers,   in 


they  received  from  these  books.  The 
ehild,  with  the  sling  and  the  stone 
fi'om  the  brook,  has  been  made  to  do 
what  the  sword  could  not.  The 
heart  arrays  itself,  whenever  you 
reprove  it ;  the  pride  rises  up  when- 
ever you  try  to  persuade  men  to  do 
directly  the  contrary  to  what  they 
are  doing  ;  but  when  the  pages  of  a 
little  book  speak,  this  pride  and 
vanity  are  not  aroused.  The  con- 
science can  awake  and  speak,  be- 
cause the  passions  do  not  raise  their 
stormy  voice  and  drown  her  admoni- 
tions. 

8.    The    library    is    a   powerful 
means   of  converting   the    soul,  and 
building  it  up  in   holiness.     There 
are,     probably,    but    few     families 
which  do  not  contain  more  or  less, 
who  have  no    evidence   of    having 
passed  from  death   unto   life ;  and 
there  are  few  families  in  which  the 
books  of  the  Sabbath-school  library 
are  not  read.     By  this  means   old 
and  deep  impressions  have  frequently 
been  revived ;  new  convictions  have 
been  awakened,  new  fears  created, 
till  the  soul  has  arisen,  like  the  pro- 
digal, and  gone   to  its   Father  for 
bread.  If  these  books  do  not  directly 


ing  the  book  which  some  sanctified, 
gifted  mind  has  penned,  and  which 
will  aid  her  in  growing  in  holiness, 
and  in  guiding  her  babes  to  the 
Lamb  of  God  !  Her  child  shall  re- 
ceive impressions  from  these  books, 
which  will  make  him  a  stafip  and  a 
comfort  in  the  evening  of  her  days ; 
and  these  books  will  leave  impres- 
sions on  the  minds  of  all  the  family 
which  will  abide  for  ever. 

These,  in  short,  are  some  of  the 
most  obvious  benefits  of  the  Sab- 
bath-school library,  which,  in  my 
view,  render  it  absolutely  indispen- 
sable to  the  success  of  the  school. 
Of  course,  the  more  complete  and 
perfect  it  is,  the  better  it  is  adapted 
to  the  ends  contemplated. 
T  proceed — 

II.  To  speah  of  the  selection,  or 
the  materials  of  ivhich  the  library 
should  be  composed.  Great  care 
should  be  exercised  in  the  selection 
of  a  library ;  for  a  book,  like  a  com- 
panion, may  make  deep  impressions 
on  the  child,  and  give  him  a  bias 
which  can  never  be  changed.  For- 
merly it  was  very  difficult  to  get 
books,  which,  to  any  great  extent, 
answered  the  purposes  of  a  juvenile 


300 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


library,  and  men  frequently  under- 
took the  selection  who  were  wholly 
ignorant  of  their  duties.  I  once 
knew  a  judge,  who,  on  being  elected 
to  the  presidency  of  a  Sabbath- 
school  society,  and  feeling  that  his 
station  required  him  to  be  a  kind  of 
patron,  actually  purchased  and  pre- 
sented to  the  school  some  dozen  or 
two  of  Gumming' s  largest  geography 
as  the  foundation  of  the  library. 
Books  are  now  so  multiplied  that 
the  greatest  difficulty  seems  to  be 
to  make  the  best  selection.  Some 
are  almost  destitute  of  character; 
others  are  too  indefinite  ;  and  others, 
still,  are  above  the  comprehension  of 
children.  *  Two  or  three  hints  seem 
desirable  here. 

1.  A   library  should    he  steadily 
increased.       This    is  usually   done 
once  every  year,  and  it  ought  to  be 
done  by  the  subscription  or  contribu- 
tion of  the  whole  congregation  with 
which  the  school  is  connected.  Great 
pains  should  be  taken  to  give  every 
family  an  opportunity  to  contribute, 
and  for  these  reasons : — First,  the 
larger  the  increase  the  more  valuable 
will  the  library  become,    and    the 
greater  will  be   its   good  influence 
upon  the  school  and  upon  the  whole 
community.     All   are  partakers  of 
its  benefits,  and  all  should  be  urged 
to  aid  in  its  increase.      Second,  the 
teachers  are  much   encouraged  and 
aided  by  an  increase  of  good  books ; 
they  are  almost  sure  to  find  some 
book  which  will  encourage  and  bene- 
fit them.     And  thirdly,  in  propor- 
tion as  a  congregation  contribute  for 
a  library,   in  that  proportion   will 
they  take  an  interest  in  the  books, 
will  read  them,  will  be    careful  to 
see  that  their  children  are  regularly 
at  school,  in  order  to  draw  out  books. 
At  the  return  of  every  year  be  sure, 
then,  to  make  as  large  a  collection 
as  possible   to   add  to   the  library. 
Get  the  new  books  as  they  are  pub- 
lished, keep  up  with  the  times,  and 


the  school  will  feel  the  efiects  of  the 
measure.  Do  not  be  afraid  of  asking 
the  Chiu-ch  and  congregation  for 
money.  There  is  no  way  in  which 
they  can  possibly  invest  money  by 
which  they  will  be  able  to  receive  so 
great  returns. 

2.  A  book  is  none  the  worse  for 
being   old.      There   is   a  feeling   in 
many,  and  I  fear  it  is  an  increasing 
one,  that  all  books   must   be    con- 
sidered ephemeral.      Like  almanacs, 
they  are  good  for  this  year,  and  then 
they  are  to  be  laid  aside.     This  feel- 
ing arises,  in  part,  from  the  peculiar 
state  of  things  in  this  country,  and 
is,  perhaps,   peculiar  to    this   land. 
Everything  here  is  changing,  a  year 
alters  the  face  of   everything ;  and 
we  are  in  danger   of  thinking  that 
principles  and   truths    and  thought 
must  all  change  and  pass  away.     In 
some    libraries,     consequently,   you 
can  hardly  get  a   book  read  which 
has  been  on  hand  more  than  a  year. 
What  is  added  this  year  is  current ; 
but  nothing  else  is  fit  to  read.     Tliis 
impression  or  feeling  should  at  once 
be  corrected.     A  good  book  will  be 
equally  valuable  (with  rare  excep- 
tions)  as  long   as  the  English  lan- 
guage is  used.     Such  books  as  came 
from  the  pens  of  Doddridge,  Baxter, 
Edwards,  and  Richmond,  can  never 
decrease  in  value  or  interest.     Who 
will  ever  hope  to  surpass  the  "Pil- 
grim's Progress  ?"     When  will  the 
time  come  when  "Little  Henry  and 
his  Bearer,"  and  the  "  Dairyman's 
Daughter,"  will  not  draw  tears  from 
the  eyes  of  the  reader  ?     In  selecting 
a  library,  do  not  feel  that  because  a 
book  was  written  before  you  were 
born,  it  is  therefore  destitute  of  in- 
terest or  wisdom.     Do  not  say  to  the 
child,  "  Here  now  is  a  beautiful  new 
book,  just  written,   and  one  which 
will  delight    you    greatly;"   while 
you  say  to  another,  as  you  hand  him 
one  of  the  most  valuable  books  ever 
penned,  "  I  am  sorry  I  have  not  a 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WORLD. 


301 


new  book  for  you,  but  they  are  all 
out ;  you  must  take  this  old  one 
now,  and  I  will  try  next  time  to  get 
you  a  new  and  an  interesting  work." 
Truth  is  imperishable ;  and  she 
gains  nothing  by  coming  out  every 
few  years  in  a  new  dress.  And  it 
seems  to  me  that  the  teacher  should 
be  careful  about  making  the  impres- 
sion that  nothing  can  be  valuable 
unless  it  be  new,  if  he  would  only 
consider  the  mischiefs  resulting  from 
it.  There  is,  of  course,  a  freshness 
about  a  new  book  which  communi- 
cates itself  in  a  degree  to  the  reader  ; 
but  let  the  child  be  taught  that  a 
great  and  good  thought  is  something 
that  must  live  eternally,  wherever 
he  finds  it,  and  that  those  who  lived 
many  years  ago  dug  as  deep,  to  say 
the  least,  as  any  writers  of  our  day, 
and  you  will  not  be  troubled  by  the 
constant  demand  for  new  books.  In 
other  words,  the  library  will  become 
a  thing  not  to  be  worn  out,  and 
every  good  book  will  become  a  per- 
manent blessing. 


SELECTING  THE   BOOKS. 

794.  Furnishing  the  Library. — 
Have  a  permanent  committee,  com- 
posed of  the  pastor,  the  superin- 
tendent, the  librarian,  and  one  or 
two  teachers.  This  committee  should 
have  the  power  to  add  to  the  library, 
at  all  times,  such  books  as  they 
please.  Thus,  every  week  or  two  a 
few  new  books  are  found  in  the 
library,  keeping  it  constantly  fresh, 
and  the  children  have  no  reasonable 
complaints  to  make.  The  labours 
of  such  a  committee  would  be  both 
lightened  and  strengthened  if  they 
could  corrrespond  with,  or  visit, 
some  of  the  places  of  supply  of  Sab- 
bath-school literature,  and  having 
confidence  in  the  judgment  of  those 


who  publish,  or  have  selected,  the 
best  books,  could  get  from  them 
from  time  to  time  such  as  they  re- 
commend. A  standing  order  might 
be  given  to  a  few  sources  of  supply, 
to  send  all  the  good  new  books  as 
they  might  be  issued,  with  the 
liberty  always  of  returning  such  as 
are  not  approved  by  the  committee. 
It  is  thought  by  some  that  the  only 
kind  of  books  that  children  will 
read  are  sensational  stories.  If  this 
is  true,  it  would  be  far  better  that 
children  should  read  less,  and  read 
that  which  will  do  them  some  good. 
There  are  many  really  valuable 
books  that  will  be  read,  and  these 
should  be  carefully  sought  for. 
Children  will  read,  and  if  not  fur- 
nished with  exciting  stories,  rather 
than  not  read  at  all,  they  will  read 
more  solid  books. — House. 

795.  Too-large  Libraries. — The 
only  effectual  remedy  that  I  can  see, 
is  to  reduce  very  materially  the 
number  of  books  selected  for  a 
library,  and  to  multiply  copies  of 
the  books  thus  selected.  It  might 
have  three,  four,  five,  or  even  ten 
copies  of  each  book  on  the  catalogue, 
according  to  the  size  of  the  school, 
or  the  demand  for  particular  books. 
If  the  school  be  of  such  a  size  as  to 
require  a  thousand  volujnes,  instead 
of  having  a  thousand  separate  pub- 
lications, and  a  single  copy  of  each, 
it  would  be  far  better  to  take  only 
the  very  cream  of  those  in  the 
market,  and  to  have  a  number  of 
copies  of  each.  This  plan  is  now 
adopted  in  all  the  public  Circulating 
Libraries.  Whenever  a  new  book 
is  issued,  on  which  there  is  likely  to 
be  a  run,  the  library  buys  a  large 
number  of  copies.  In  the  case  of  a 
Sabbath-school  library  on  this  plan, 
with  a  limited  number  of  publica- 
tions, but  numerous  copies  of  each, 
the  teachers  and  the  superintendents 
might    reasonably  be    expected    to 


302 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL  WOELD. 


make  themselves  acquainted  witli 
the  character  of  the  greater  part  of 
the  books.  A  full  descriptive  cata- 
logue also  might  be  made  without 
too  great  labour  or  expense.  Every 
scholar  finally  would  have  a  reason- 
able chance  of  being  suited  weekly 
with  a  book.  It  would  take  two  or 
three  years  for  the  books  to  make 
the  entire  circuit  of  the  school,  by 
the  end  of  which  time  the  best  of 
them  would  be  worn  out,  and  the 
others  might  be  given  away,  and  anew 
library  be  purchased. — Dr.  Hart. 

796.  Library  Oommittee.  —  To 
remedy  the  first  evil,  we  would  sug- 
gest the  formation  of  a  standing 
library  committee ;  consisting  of 
the  president  and  general  super- 
intendent, ex  officio,  with  two  or 
four  other  parties,  either  male  or 
female,  selected  by  the  business 
committee  from  their  own  body, 
possessed  of  leisure,  prudence,  and 
knowledge,  who  should  examine  and 
approve  all  books  before  they  are 
placed  in  the  library.  This  would 
eflfectually  prevent  the  introduction 
of  mere  trashy  rhyme,  highly- 
wrought  children's  novels,  injudi- 
cious biographies,  all  works  contain- 
ing false  doctrines,  covertly  smoothed 
over  with  the  appearance  of  truth ; 
or  books  on  natural  history,  geo- 
grax^hy,  or  ancient  Jewish  customs, 
with  more  of  the  fabulous,  fanciful, 
and  erroneous,  than  the  simple,  un- 
adorned, and  true. — Davids. 

797.  Many  Books.  —  The  time 
was  when  a  teacher  might,  without 
much  difficulty,  be  acquainted  with 
all  the  books  in  the  market  suitable 
for  a  child's  Sabbath  reading.  But 
that  time  is  past.  There  are  a  few 
excellent  books  with  which  nearly 
all  the  teachers  are  acquainted. 
Perhaps  in  the  whole  catalogue  of 
one  of  these  large  libraries  there 
may  be  fifty  books,  possibly  a  hun- 
dred, of  which  something  is  known, 


either  by  the  teacher  or  by  some 
one  of  the  scholars,  in  every  class. 
These  few  books  are  in  constant 
demand.  There  wiU  be,  perhaps,  a 
dozen  applications  the  same  day  for 
a  single  book.  Consequently  eleven 
out  of  the  twelve  who  apply  for  that 
book  are  disappointed.  Even  where 
each  child  is  allowed  to  have  three 
or  four  choices,  such  is  the  run  on 
the  few  books  which  are  really 
popular  and  well  known,  that  half  the 
time  no  one  book  out  of  the  three  or 
foiu'  books  called  for  is  to  be  had. 
Out  of  a  class  of  ten  children,  in  a 
school  that  has  a  library  of  a  thou- 
sand volumes,  four  children  perhaps 
will  receive  for  answer  that  the 
books  for  which  they  applied  are 
out ;  four  will  get  books  so  utterly 
unsuited  to  them  that  .they  do  not 
even  take  them  home ;  and  two  pos- 
sibly will  be  suited.  I  assure  the 
reader,  this  is  no  fiction.  I  have 
myself  seen  it,  week  after  week,  in 
himdreds  of  instances. — Dr.  Hart. 

798.  Adapted  Books. — Be  care- 
ful to  heep  the  library  filed  loith 
boohs  suited  to  the  advanced  age  and 
improvement  of  your  oldest  scholars. 
This  is  one  of  the  best  bonds  to  keep 
the  scholars  with  you,  and  one  on 
which  you  may  usually  rely  with 
certainty.  Books  of  a  high  charac- 
ter should  be  selected,  kept  in  such 
order  as  to  be  inviting ;  and  I  am 
not  sure  that  it  would  not  be  wise 
to  have  a  library  separate  and  dis- 
tinct for  the  sole  use  of  the  older 
scholars.  I  once  made  the  experi- 
ment of  forming  a  library  for  young 
men  and  young  ladies  separate  from 
the  Sabbath-school.  There  were 
shortly  several  hundred  volumes 
gathered,  and  they  were  probably  of 
much  greater  use  than  the  same 
number  of  books  are  to  a  Sabbath- 
school  in  the  ordinary  way. — Todd. 

799.  Piction. — It  is  not  easy  to 
lay  down  a  formal  rule  in  regard  to 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


303 


tlie  use  of  fiction  in  Sabbath- school 
books.  ]\Ian3'  books  are  felt  to  bo 
unsuitable  on  this  score,  thoug-h 
we  cannot  frame  a  rule  which  will 
exclude  them,  without  excluding 
others  to  which  we  feel  no  objection. 
It  seems  necessary  in  this  matter  to 
judge  each  book,  to  a  considerable 
extent,  by  itself.  Love  afiairs  cer- 
tainly should  be  kept  out  of  these 
books.  We  should  exclude  also 
scenes  that  are  overwrought  and 
unnatural,  and  such  as  are  not 
likely  to  have  happened,  and  such 
as  give  false  ideas  of  life  or  of  duty, 
and  such  as  merely  excite  the  feel- 
ings without  leaving  any  food  for 
the  judgment  and  the  conscience. — 
Br.  Bart. 

800.  Living  Books.— Sabbath- 
school  books,  of  all  others,  should 
be  lice  books.  It  is  of  no  sort  of  use 
for  publishing-boards  to  issue,  or 
purchasing-committees  to  buy,  dull 
books.  The  children  will  not  read 
them.  If  any  one  wants  to  see  what 
books  are  really  influencing  the  chil- 
dren of  a  Sabbath-school,  let  him 
look  at  the  book- case  where  the 
library  is  kept.  A  single  glance 
will  suffice.  The  shining,  unsoiled, 
good-looking  volumes,  that  stand  in 
unbroken  columns  on  the  shelves, 
may  as  well  be  consigned  at  once  to 
the  waste-basket.  No  matter  whose 
imprimatur  they  may  have,  or  how 
ornamental  their  appearance,  their 
value  is  simply  zero.  The  real  work 
of  the  library  is  done  by  those 
volumes  which  are  seldom  found  for 
two  consecutive  weeks  on  the  shelf, 
and  which  when  there  have  gene- 
rally a  shockingly  bad  appearance. 
Commend  me  to  the  book  that  is 
blackened  and  worn,  and  its  pages 
dog-eared  and  soiled,  its  covers 
broken  or  gone,  its  leaves  loose,  its 
title-page  missing,  which  hardly 
holds  together,  and  cannot  stanS. 
alone  on  the  shelf,  and  which  has 


to  be  replaced  at  least  once  every 
twelvemonth.  Such  a  book  is  not 
necessarily  a  good  book.  But  it  is 
unquestionably  a  live  book.  It  is  a 
book  that  will  make  its  mark  in  the 
school. — Dr.  Hart. 

801.  How  to  form  a  Library. — 
By  this  we  mean  the  selection  and 
purchase  of  suitable  books.    We  say 
purchase  advisedh',  for  it  sometimes 
happens  when  a  library  is  about  to 
be   established   that  the   friends   of 
the  school  are  invited  to  contribute 
not  funds  but  books.     Hence  there 
is   a  great  risk   of  nauseating  the 
young  people  with  the  weeding  of 
many    poorly    stored    book-sLelves, 
consisting    mainly    of    a    few    odd 
volumes  of    sermons   and    religious 
magazines.     These    books    may    be 
good    enough    in    their    way,    may 
contain — as  their  kind  donors  say — 
a  large  amount  of  good  reading  ;  but 
after   all  may   be  too  heavy   as  to 
their  contents,  and  too  bulky  as  to 
their  size,  for  the  purpose  they  are 
intended    to   serve.      Money  rather 
than  books  is   the  capital  to   start 
with.     This  being  by   some   means 
obtained,  the  next  point  is  how  to 
expend  it  to  the  best  advantage.    The 
selecting  of  suitable  books  has  often 
occasioned  greatperplexity  to  Sunday- 
school  managers.    Not  so  much  from 
the  paucity  of  ineligible  books  does 
this  difiiculty  arise,  as  from  the  fact 
that  those  who  have  the  selecting  of 
them   have  often  so    far    forgotten 
their  own  childhood  as  to  ignore  the 
taste  of  the  young  people,  and  have 
also    a    very    slender    acquaintance 
with  books  in  general,  and  especially 
with  the  class  of  books  required.    It 
also   frequently    occurs    that    some 
excellent  friend  remembers  a  book 
that  was  in  some  way  serviceable  to 
him  at  some  period  of  his  life — such 
asCharnockon  21ie  Divine  AtfributeSy 
or   Baxter's   Saints^   Rest ;    and  he 
cannot  rest  till  it  has  a  place  on  the 


304 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


shelves  of  the  Sunday- sctool,  where 
it  ever  after  reposes  in  a  high  state 
of  preservation.  To  prevent  a  waste- 
ful expenditure  of  money,  and  the 
library  from  being  encumbered  with 
ineligible  volumes,  it  would  be  well 
in.  the  first  instance  to  form  a 
Library  Committee.  This  committee, 
which  should  be  very  small  and 
select,  need  not  be  composed  exclu- 
sively of  Sunday-school  teachers ; 
indeed,  in  many  cases  this  would  be 
fatal  to  the  end  proposed.  It  would 
be  useful  to  call  in  the  aid  of  two  or 
three  of  the  congregation  not  con- 
nected with  the  school,  but  who  in 
this  way  might  be  induced  to  take  a 
deeper  interest  in  its  proceedings. 
They  should,  if  possible,  be  heads  of 
families,  men  who  have  a  care  for 
what  their  own  children  read,  and 
who,  having  noticed  what  had  profited 
and  pleased  them  most,  would  be  so 
far  competent  to  select  for  the  benefit 
of  others.  As  a  matter  of  course 
the  minister  will  be  on  this  committee ; 
from  his  knowledge  of  books  in.  gene- 
ral, and  from  his  acquaintance  with 
the  style  and  character  of  the  issues 
of  certain,  publishing  firms,  he  will 
be  qualified  to  render  invaluable  aid  : 
then,  too,  since  he  is  in  constant 
receipt  of  publishers'  catalogues,  is 
a  reader  of  reviews  and  the  like,  and 
has  some  acquaintance  with  authors, 
he  will  not  fail  to  note  down  the  titles 
of  such  books  as,  from  his  many 
sources  of  information,  he  can  con- 
fidently recommend.  The  work  of 
such  a  committee  will  save  a  great 
amount  of  perplexity  to  the  teacher, 
and  secure  for  the  little  ones  at  the 
least  expense  the  largest  possible 
number  of  really  valuable  books.  In 
buying  books  for  a  Sunday-school 
library,  their  size  is  a  matter  that 
should  not  be  overlooked.  iS'ot  only 
are  large  books  usually  too  costly, 
but  they  weary  the  patience  of  the 
children,  while  the  time  required  for 
reading  them  destroys  the  advantage 


of  frequent  changes,  and  exposes 
the  book  to  the  double  risk  of  being 
unduly  soiled  or  lost.  It  is  better 
that  three  small  and  interesting 
I  books  should  be  occupying  the  leisure 
hours  of  haK-a-dozen  scholars  in  a 
fortnight,  than  that  one  larger  volume 
should  be  over-taxing  the  attention 
of  one  reader  through  the  same  time. 
Xot  only  does  the  frequent  changing 
of  smaller  books  secure  a  greater 
variety  and  necessitate  the  more 
regular  attendance  of  the  scholar, 
but  the  price  renders  it  more  easy  to 
establish  a  numerous  library.  Then 
the  size  usually  involves  the  question 
of  price ;  though  it  may  be  useful 
to  remember  that  a  small  book  at 
eighteen-pence  may  be  cheaper  than 
a  large  book  at  one  shilling,  since  it 
may  be  issued  twice  as  often,  and  by 
its  greater  attractiveness  secure 
double  the  number  of  readers. 
Generally,  books  for  junior  classes 
ought  to  be  such  that  the  scholars 
may  not  need  to  retain  them  more 
than  a  week  each ;  and  only  senior 
scholars  should  be  allowed  the  use  of 
books  that  need  a  longer  time.  What 
is  wanted  at  the  start  is  a  suf&cient 
number  of  books.  To  secure  this  we 
commend  a  suggestion  which  was 
once  successfully  carried  out  in  the 
case  of  a  library  of  another .  kind. 
The  funds  being  limited,  it  was 
proposed  that  no  book  should  in  the 
first  year  be  purchased  whose  pub- 
lished price  exceeded  half-a-crown. 
In  this  way  a  sufficient  number  of 
books  to  last  two  years  were  placed 
at  the  disposal  of  the  readers.  Be- 
fore that  time  expired  more  funds 
were  available,  and  books  of  a  higher 
price  were  added  by  degrees.  It 
may  be  remembered  that  the  best 
books  for  the  Sunday-school  are 
usually  low  in  price,  since  their 
quality  increases  their  circulation, 
and  that  reduces  the  cost.  A 
maximum  price  of  eighteen-pence 
is  quite  large  enough  to  start  with ; 


STJNDAT   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


305 


and  it  is  perfectly  astonisHng  how 
many  really  eligible  books  are  issued 
at  and  under  tbat  sum  per  volume. 
"When  the  maximum  or  average  price 
per  volume  has  been  resolved  upon, 
the    work    of    selecting    the    books 
commences  ;  and  this  method  will  be 
found  to  be  as  good  as  any  we  know. 
Let  each   of    the    select    committee 
come  to  the  first  meeting  with  a  list 
of  as  many  books  as  it  is  proposed 
to  purchase  at  the  price  determined 
upon.      It   will  probably  be  found 
that   each    member    has,    in    many 
instances,  the  same  titles  in  his  list. 
These  may  be  at  once  checked  off  as 
books  that  the  majority  are  agreed 
upon.    Those  that  may  be  on  the  list 
of  two    or  more   members   may   be 
next  discussed ;  while  those  that  are 
on  but    one    list  will    have   to    be 
described  by  their  proposer,  and  then 
voted  upon.    In  preparing  his  hst  for 
this  meeting,  a  committee-man  will 
do   well  to   consult  the  publishers' 
lists  which  any  bookseller  wiU  give 
or   lend    for    the    purpose.     Several 
houses   (such  as   Elliot    Stock,   the 
Sunday     School     Union,     and    the 
Eeligious  Tract  Society)  issue  lists 
of     books     specially     adapted     for 
Sunday-schools.     No  one    list  may 
be  taken  in  its  entirety,  but  from 
the  comparison  of  several  a  judicious 
selection  may  be  made.     When  the 
object   of  the   committee  is  not  to 
form  a  library,  but  to  enlarge  one 
already  existing,  volumes  that  have 
been  previously  recommended  in  a 
book  kept  for  the  purpose  may  be 
discussed;  care  being  taken  to  reject 
all  those  upon  which  any  doubt  as  to 
their  suitability  is  cast,  until  more  is 
known  concerning  them.    Yery  often 
the  review  department  of  some  trusted 
magazine  will  guide  the  committee 
to  such  books  ;  as  in  some  magazines 
which  are  devoted  to  Sunday-school 
purposes,  no  books  are  recommended 
but    such    as    have  been   carefuUy 
scanned. — Kke, 


I  802.  How  to  Test  a  Book.— 
The  very  best  preliminary  test  of  a 
book  for  the  yoimg  is  to  put  it  into 
the  hands  of  young  children  in  a 
fandly.  If  half  a  dozen  books  are 
thus  placed  within  reach  of  such  a 
group,  and  it  is  found  that  some  of 
the  volimies  are  eagerly  devoiu-ed, 
and  the  reading  of  them  competed 
for,  while  others  are  quietly  left  on 
the  table,  almost  unread,  these  latter 
may  be  considered  as  disposed  of,  so 
far  as  the  uses  of  a  Sabbath-school 
library  are  concerned.  It  does  not 
follow,  however,  that  the  other  books 
are  all  right,  because  the  children 
like  them.  That  is  only  one  point, 
though  an  indispensable  one.  An- 
other point  in  a  book,  equally  indis- 
pensable, is  the  character  of  its 
teachings,  and  of  this  the  children 
are  by  no  means  the  proper  judges. — 
Br,  Hart, 


LIBEAET  PLANS. 

803.  American. — The  more  mod- 
ern plans  of  distributing  the  books 
require  that  the  librarian  not  only  be 
present  before  the  opening  of  the 
school  for  the  distiibution  of  hymn- 
books  and  class-books,  but  that  all 
the  work  of  supplying  the  scholars 
be  attended  to  before  the  school  re- 
gularly opens.  That  this  is  feasible, 
and  wiU  take  but  little  time,  expe- 
rience confu'ms.  Thus,  the  librarian 
sits  at  the  entrance  to  the  library 
room,  or  in  front  of  his  case,  with 
the  register  open  before  him  on  a 
table.  Suppose  the  books  to  be  three 
hundred  in  number,  and  under  lock 
and  key.  He  spreads  open  the  door 
of  his  library-case,  and  is  ready  for 
business.  As  the  scholar  comes  in 
he  hands  the  book  which  he  returns 
to  the  librarian.  The  librarian  looks 
for  the  number  on  the  back  of  the 
book;  he  knows  to  what  class  the 


306 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


scholar  belongs,  and  knows  the 
number  and  name,  too,  of  the 
scholar.  He  finds  a  check  corre- 
sponding to  the  number  on  the  back 
of  the  book  in  the  register  opposite 
the  name  or  number  of  the  scholar. 
This  check  he  withdraws  from  the 
register,  puts  it  in  the  book,  and  re- 
turns the  book  to  its  proper  place  in 
the  library-case.  The  scholar  now 
selects  from  the  case  any  book  he 
wants,  and  hands  it  to  the  librarian, 
who  takes  the  check  out  of  the 
book,  places  it  opposite  the  scholar's 
name  or  number  in  the  register,  and 
the  work  is  done.  In  a  school 
numbering  two  hundred,  this  system 
can  be  worked  by  the  librarian  alone 
in  ten  minutes,  or  with  an  assistant 
in  five  or  six  minutes,  and  in  large 
schools  two  librarians  can  do  all  the 
work  in  from  twelve  to  twenty 
minutes.  There  are  two  plans  for 
managing  libraries,  which  have  had 
considerable  commendation,  and  have 
been  widely  used,  the  first  called  the 
**  Pigeon-Hole  and  Card  plan,"  the 
other  ''Geist's  Patent  Index 
System."  The  prominent  feature  in 
the  ^rs^  is  the  arrangement  of  the 
library-case  into  "pigeon-holes,"  or 
separate  departments,  for  each  book, 
and  when  a  book  is  taken  out  a  card 
with  the  scholar's  name  upon  it  is 
put  in  the  "  pigeon-hole,"  or  apart- 
ment, from  which  the  book  was 
taken,  to  remain  there  till  the  book 
is  returned.  The  main  feature  in 
the  second  system  named  above  is 
the  division  of  the  library  and  cata- 
logue into  as  many  equal  parts  as 
there  are  classes  in  the  school.  Each 
class  is  supplied  with  one  of  these 
partial,  or  division,  catalogues,  from 
which  they  make  their  selections, 
and  mark  the  number  of  the  book 
selected  upon  a  small  library  slate. 
These  partial  catalogues  rotate 
through  the  various  classes  on  suc- 
cessive Sabbaths  in  regular  order.  A 
combination  of  these  two  plans  has 


been  effected  by  Mr.  E.  H.  Young, 
of  Illinois,  with  the  following  cha- 
racteristics : — 

1.  Arrange  the  library- case  and 
books  into  as  many  equal  divisions 
as  there  are  classes  in  the  school. 

2.  Arrange  the  divisions  into 
''pigeon-holes,"  or  separate  depart- 
ments, for  each  book.  (This  may 
best  be  done  with  strips  of  tin, 
about  two  and  a  half  inches  wide, 
and  the  proper  length,  slipped  into 
grooves  made  in  the  shelves,  above 
and  below,  with  a  saw.  The  front 
edge  of  these  strips  should  be 
turned,  to  prevent  their  cutting  or 
soiling  the  books.)  Number  the  di- 
visions consecutively,  1,  2,  3,  4, 
&c. ;  also  the  '■'■  piy eon-holes^''  be- 
ginning with  one  (1)  in  each  divi- 
sion. 

3.  Use  Geisfs  adhesive  tags  for 
backs  of  books,  showing  both  divi- 
sio7i  and  j^igeon-hole  numbers,  thus : 
Books  in  division  one  are  numbered 
101,  102,  103,  &c. ;  in  division  two, 
201,  202,  203,  &c. ;  in  division 
three,  301,  302,  303,  &c. 

4.  Make  a  catalogue  of  the  books 
in  each  division  separately — may  be 
ivritten,  in  a  plain  hand,  in  small, 
cheap  ])^^^'^(^^^^^'  Number  these 
division  catalogues  to  correspond  with 
their  respective  divisions. 

5.  Letter  the  classes — A,  B,  C,  D, 
&c., — and  number  the  scholars  in 
each  class — 1,  2,  3,  4,  &c.  Provide 
a  small  library  slate  for  each  class, 
with  its  class-letter  at  the  top,  and 
the  scholars'  numbers  at  the  side. 

6.  Prepare  a  card  for  each  scholar, 
with  his  or  her  name  upon  it,  and 
also  the  class-letter  and  number  of 
the  scholar. 

Write  to  J.  M.  W.  Geist,  Lan- 
caster, Penn.,  stating  number  of 
classes  in  your  school,  also  the  num- 
ber of  books  you  propose  putting  in 
each  division,  and  order  two  sets  of 
division  numbers — one  for  library 
divisions,  and  one  for  catalogues — 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


307 


inside  tablets,  tags  for  backs  of 
books,  librartj  slates  for  as  many 
classes  as  you  have,  and  one  libra- 
rian's index.  This  last  item  is  im- 
portant to  insure  a  regular  rotation 
of  catalogues,  and  also  to  show  how 
long  an  unreturned  book  has  been 
out.  (Mr.  Geist  is  manufacturer  of 
all  these  fixtures,  and  patentee  of 
some  of  them.) 

WorJiing  of  the  System. — At  or 
before  the  opening  of  the  school  the 
librarian  supplies  each  class  with  a 
slate,  and  one  of  the  division  cata- 
logues. As  the  scholars  come  they 
select  from  the  catalogue,  or  their 
teacher  for  them,  and  mark  the 
numbers  of  the  books  selected  oppo- 
site their  respective  class-numbers  on 
the  slate.  At  the  close  of  the  gene- 
ral opening  exercises,  and  before  re- 
citations begin, — or,  better  still,  re- 
quire those  wanting  books  to  be 
present  five  to  eight  minutes  before 
the  opening  of  the  school,  to  select 
their  books,  and  then,  at  the  open- 
ing, the  librarian  may  take  up  the 
slates  and  catalogues,  and,  during 
7'ecitations,  take  from  the  library  the 
books  selected  by  the  various  classes, 
as  shown  by  the  slates.  As  the 
booJis  are  taken  out,  the  scholars' 
cards  are  put  in  their  places.  After 
recitations  the  librarian  delivers  the 
books,  with  the  slates,  to  the 
teachers,  who  distribute  to  the 
scholars,  the  slate  showing  to  which 
scholar  each  book  belongs.  Returned 
books  are  left  at  the  library,  which 
should  be  near  the  door,  as  the 
scholars  pass  into  the  schoolroom, 
and  are,  at  the  same  time,  arranged 
by  the  librarian  in  their  proper 
places  in  the  library.  As  the  books 
are  put  into  the  pigeon-holes,  the 
cards  are  taken  out  and  placed  in  a 
card-box  that  has  separate  apart- 
ments for  each  class. 

Adcantages  of  the  System. — 1. 
The  simplicity  of  its  working  appa- 
ratus.    One  ejitire  catalogue  only — 


divided  into  as  many  parts  as  there 
are  classes — for  the  whole  school. 

2.  An  equitable  distribution  of  the 
books  is  secured  to  every  class  by  the 
rotation  of  catalogues. 

3.  The  least  possible  time  is  re- 
quired in  selecting  and  distributing, 
as  all  classes  are  served  simultane- 
ously, or  as  nearly  so  as  possible,  and 
a  large  school  may  be  served  about 
as  quickly  as  a  small  one. 

4.  IS'o  two  scholars  in  difierent 
classes  can  select  the  same  book  at 
the  same  time,  and  no  two  in  the 
same  class  need  do  so,  as  each  can  see 
the  numbers  previously  selected  by 
his  class-mates. 

5.  The  library  will  be  new  and 
fresh  to  the  school  much  longer  than 
by  any  other  mode  of  distribution. 

6.  Teachers  and  classes  are  not 
interrupted  during  recitations,  nor 
have  scholars  any  books  during  re- 
citations to  distract  attention  from 
the  lessons. 

7.  No  scholar  can  get  a  second 
book  till  the  first  is  returned. 

8.  The  librarian  can  tell,  at  a 
glance,  who  has  any  unreturned 
book,  and  how  long  it  has  been  out. 

9.  No  records  are  necessary.  The 
system  is,  in  itself,  a  complete  self- 
7'egister  of  every  thing  that  need  be 
known  of  the  library. 

Hemarks. — Those  now  using  the 
"Pigeon-Hole  and  Card"  plan  will 
secure  the  principal  advantages  of 
this  combination  by  simply  dividing 
their  catalogue,  and  procuring  the 
necessary  librar}''  slates,  and  working 
it  as  above  described,  and  thereby 
economise  time,  p)^'omote  good  order^ 
and  secure  other  important  advan- 
tages. One  of  these  advantages  will 
be  apparent  from  the  following 
statement  of  the  practical  working 
of  the  "  Pigeon- Hole  and  Card" 
plan : — Suppose  one  hundred  scholars 
have  drawn  books  on  any  given 
Sabbath;  the  one  who  presents 
himself  first  at  the  next  Sabbath 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL  WORLD. 


mil  find  one  hundred  empty  pigeon- 
lioles,  from  any  one  of  which  he 
might  wish  to  draw,  and  this  diflS- 
culty  is  constantly  recurring;  in 
fact,  there  is  no  certainty  of  any 
scholar  getting  any  hook  he  wants  at 
any  time.  This  difficulty  is  entirely 
removed  by  the  Combination  System. 
The  difficulty  with  Geisfs  system 
is  that  much  unnecessary  luork  is 
required  of  the  librarian,  in  conse- 
quence of  which  classes  are  inter- 
fered ivith  during  recitations. — 
Soicse. 

804.  The  Check  System.— 
3Ianaging  the  Library. — In  a  great 
many  Sabbath-schools  the  manner  of 
distributing  the  books  is  a  very  bad 
one,  and  in  consequence  of  this  some 
schools  have  improperly  discarded 
the  library  altogether.  The  great 
difficulty  has  arisen  from  the  fact 
that  the  librarian  has  been  allowed 
to  be  on  the  floor,  and  to  have  access 
to  and  interrupt  the  teachers  during 
teaching  hour.  This  should  never 
be  allowed.  An  interruption  to  the 
teacher  while  applying  Divine  truth 
may  peril  souls  for  ever,  and  therefore 
should  be  carefully  guarded  against. 
The  only  access  to  the  teachers  which 
ought  to  be  allowed  to  the  librarian 
during  school-hours,  is  simply  to 
hand  them  the  books,  just  at  the 
close  of  school.  There  are  several 
good  systems  for  distributing  the 
books  that  conform  to  this  idea  and 
protect  the  teachers.  I  would  never 
ask  the  teachers  to  wi'ite  the  scholars' 
names  or  numbers  for  books,  or  do 
the  work  of  selection,  during  the 
school  hours.  In  the  management 
of  the  library,  what  is  called  ' '  The 
Check  System"  is  considered  one  of 
the  best.  We  cannot  describe  the 
various  good  plans,  but  I  shall 
detail  one  which  seems  to  me  to  be 
more  simple,  and  to  obviate  more 
difficulties  than  any  other  that  I  am 
acquainted  with.     It  first  provides  a 


carefully  printed  numerical  catalogue 
of  all  the  books,  with  the  number  of 
pages.     Give  to  each  scholar  one  of 
these  catalogues,  and  replace  it  when 
lost.    If  the  school  is  a  small  district- 
school,  a  written  catalogue  will  an- 
swer the  piu'pose  equally  well.   Then 
a  "  Library  Card,"  four  inches  by 
two-and-a-half   inches,  is  provided 
for  each  scholar  on  the  first  of  each 
month.    On  this  is  wiitten  or  printed 
—"Library  Card,"   "Class  No.  6," 
"  John  Smith."     Each  scholar  takes 
his  "Library  Card"  and  catalogue 
home,  and  there,  with  aid  from  his 
parents  or  a  friend,  he  selects  from 
ten  to  fifteen  books,  any  of  which  he 
will  be   satisfied   with    during    the 
next  fourweeks.  The  "  Library  Card" 
is  then  placed  in  his  book,  and  kept 
there  as  a  marker,  and  is  retui'ned 
to  the  librarian  on  the  next  Sabbath 
with  the  book.     Each  scholar  hands 
his  book,  with  the  card  in  it,  as  he 
enters  the  room,  to  the  librarian,  who 
is  always  to  be  found,  at  the  opening 
of  the   school,  at  the  outer  door  of 
the  schoolroom,  with  a  large  basket 
ready  to  receive  aD.  the  books  from 
the    pupils.     When    the    school    is 
opened,  the   librarian   carries   these 
books  to  the  library  and  assorts  them, 
as  he  ascertains  from  each  book-mark 
to   what   class   and  name  the  book 
belongs.     The  book  is  then  credited 
as  returned,  and  the  new  one  charged. 
If    any    scholar    wants    one    book 
particularly  that   is  on  his  list,  he 
underscores   it,   and  if  it  is  in  the 
library,  it  is  given  to  him  and  charged. 
If  any  scholar  is  late,  and  the  librarian 
has  gone  to  the  library,  he  loses  his 
exchange  of  books  on  that  Sabbath. 
The   librarian  keeps  the  account  of 
all  library-books,  and  charges  them 
all  to  each  name  and  class  according 
to  the  book-mark,  and  credits  them 
when  returned,  and  the  teacher  has 
no   care   of  it.     After  the  teaching 
is   closed,   the   lesson   reviewed    by 
the   superintendent,  remarks  made. 


STJJ^DAT   SCHOOL  WORLD. 


309 


prayer,  singing,  &c.,  then  the 
librarian,  by  a  notice  from  the 
superintendent,  passes  down  the 
aisle  and  hands  each  teacher  his 
lot  of  books,  and  the  teacher  passes 
them  to  each  pupil  according  to  the 
library  card,  and  then  the  school  is 
dismissed.  No  scholar  opens  his 
library-book  or  paper  in  the  school. 
The  teachers  have  no  care  of  the 
books  or  their  numbers,  unless  the 
scholar  loses  his  library  card;  in 
which  case  his  teacher,  at  the  close 
of  the  school,  accompanies  him  to 
the  librar}^,  and  obtains  for  him  a 
new  library  card  and  book.  The 
librarian  and  his  assistants  charge 
and  credit  all  the  books  while  the 
teachers  are  teaching.  Each  class 
has  a  column  or  place  on  the  register. 
This  plan  satisfies  the  scholar,  he 
has  his  own  choice,  and  never 
interrupts  the  teachers  or  the  school 
for  a  moment,  or  diverts  the  attention 
of  the  school,  and  no  time  is  lost. 
It  works  admirably. — Pardee. 

805.  An  Untried  Plan. — A  great 
many  plans  have  been  devised,  and 
much  has  been  written,  in  regard  to 
the  management  of  Sunday-school 
libraries;  and  as  the  subject  is  one 
which  has  engaged  my  attention  for 
some  years  past,  I  have  examined 
the  plans  which  have  been  submitted 
with  close  attention,  and  there  seems 
to  me  to  be  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
most  of  the  methods  which  have  been 
either  used  or  suggested.  My  plan 
is  to  have  a  shelf,  about  eight  feet 
long,  in  front  of  the  book-case,  which 
will  serve  as  a  counter  for  the  librarian. 
Let  each  scholar  have  a  register- 
number,  which  is  written  opposite 
his  or  her  name  on  a  card,  and  hung 
up  to  suit  the  convenience  of  the 
librarian,  besides  being  entered  in 
the  usual  place  in  the  register-book. 
Make  the  doors  of  the  book -case  to 
open  in  the  middle,  i.e.,  in  halves; 
on  the  inside  of  the  door,  on  the  right 


hand,  is  a  large  square,  divided  into  as 
many  small  squares — each  one  inch 
in  diameter — as  there  are  scholars 
in  the  school.  Into  these  squares 
are  put  the  register-numbers  of  the 
scholars,  beginning  at  the  top  left- 
hand  corner,  as  follows  : — 

Register  Nitmbees. 


1 

10 

2 
11 

3 
12 

4 
13 

5 
14 

6 

15 

7 
16 

8 
17 

9 

18 

19 

20 

21  22 

23 

24 

25 

26 

27 

28 

29 

30  31 

32 

33 

34 

35 

36 

37 

38 

39 

40 

41 

42 

43 

44 

45 

And  so  on  up  to  any  definite  numher. 

On  the  inside  of  the  door  let  there 
be  squares  of  the  same  kind,  which 
are  the  "book-numbers,"  agreeing 
with  the  number  of  every  book  in 
the  library.  In  the  next  place,  take 
small  round  pieces  of  pasteboard, 
about  the  same  diameter  as  the 
squares,  each  with  a  number  printed 
or  written  on  it,  beginning  with 
1,  2,  3,  &c.,  the  same  as  the  register- 
numbers.  Near  the  top  of  each 
square  put  a  small  brass  or  iron  pin, 
on  which  the  pasteboard  "token" 
may  be  hung,  so  as  not  to  be  easily 
shaken  off  in  opening  or  closing 
the  doors.  The  number  of  the 
token  and  of  the  squares  on 
which  it  is  hung  are  the  same. 
One  class  at  a  time,  headed  by  its 
teacher,  retires  to  the  library,  and 
books  asked  for  by  the  class  are 
placed  on  the  before-mentioned  shelf 
or  counter.  As  soon  as  a  scholar  has 
selected  a  book,  he  calls  out  his 
register-number,  and  then  the  num- 
ber of  the  book  selected.  The 
librarian  takes  the  "token"  bearing 
the  scholar's  register-number,  and 
hangs  it  on  the  book-number  on  the 
other  door.  For  example ,  the  scholar' s 
number  is  20,  and  the  number  of  the 


310 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


book  selected  is  10 ;  he  calls  out 
*' 20-10."  The  librarian  takes  the 
**  token  "  20  and  hangs  it  over  10  on 
the  other  door,  where  it  hangs  till 
the  book  is  returned.  This  plan 
obviates  the  necessity  for  a  library- 
book,  and  can  be  more  correctly  kept. 
It  is  also  so  simple  that,  in  the  ab- 
sence of  the  librarian,  any  person 
could  take  his  place.  To  prevent  any 
scholar  forgetting  his  number,  and 
thus  causing  confusion,  let  each 
scholar  have  his  or  her  number 
pasted  on  the  cover  of  the  Bible  or 
Testament,  used  in  the  school,  and 
let  the  books  used  by  each  class  be 
kept  separate,  and  strapped  together  ; 
then,  if  need  be,  the  scholar  could 
take  his  class  reading-book  in  his 
hand  to  the  library,  and  thus  prevent 
mistakes.  A  further  advantage 
would  result  from  this  plan  in  the 
lawful  emulation  that  would  arise 
among  the  scholars  in  keeping  their 
books  in  good  order. — James  Bayers. 

i^*^  This  plan    appears   to  be  feasible, 
but  has  not  been  tried.— Ed.  S.  S.  World. 

806.  The  Eemedy  of  Difficulties. 
— Cannot  the  difficulties  of  its  man- 
agement be  remedied?  The  main 
difficulties,  in  my  opinion,  are  two, 
first  in  getting  a  proper  selection  of 
books ;  and  second,  in  having  the 
teachers  sufficiently  acquainted  with 
them.  These  two  points  once  secured, 
there  is  no  other  difficulty  that  can- 
not be  readily  met  by  any  super- 
intendent of  ordinary  executive 
ability.  If  the  library  contains  no 
trash — that  is,  if  there  is  in  it  no 
book  that  is  not  both  valuable  and 
attractive — and  if  the  teachers  in  the 
main  are  so  far  informed  in  regard 
to  the  books  as  to  guide  the  chil- 
dren intelligently  in  their  selections, 
all  the  other  troubles  can  be  managed 
without  difficulty. — Dr.  Hart. 

807.  How  to  Manage  the  Library. 
— The  library  has  always  been  justly 


regarded  as  one  of  the  most  useful 
of  the  agencies  of  the  Sunday-school. 
By  means  of  good  books,  written 
specially  for  the  young  in  an  enter- 
taining style,  and  taking  the  form 
of  Christian  biography  and  poetry, 
or  even  of  religious  fiction  in  the 
form  of  interesting  tales,  not  only  is 
the  place  of  noxious  reading  usurped, 
but  the  lessons  of  the  school  and  the 
principles  therein  enforced  are  re- 
vived by  the  fireside  during  the 
Aveek.  Very  often  the  book  taken 
home  by  the  scholar  is  read  in  the 
hearing  of  the  parents,  and  thus  be- 
comes a  very  infiuential  missionary 
in  the  household.  But  the  library 
has  often  been  the  great  puzzle  of 
most  Sunday-schools.  How  to  select, 
how  to  sustain,  and  how  to  keep  a 
library  are  problems  of  practical 
school  life  that  yet  await  a  solution 
that  schools  in  the  general  may 
safely  adopt.  The  two  former  ques- 
tions we  shall  attempt  to  answer 
presently,  the  last  will  now  engage 
our  attention.  Having  very  care- 
fully compared  many  systems  of 
management,  both  as  theoretically 
described  in  English  and  Ameri- 
can journals  and  as  practically 
carried  out  in  schools  visited  by 
us,  we  have  no  hesitation  what- 
ever in  recommending  the  following 
as,  all  things  considered,  by  far  the 
best: — 

The  Libeart  Case  should  be 
divided  into  partitions,  as  in  the 
following  diagram.  These  partitions 
are  made  of  thi,  the  outer  edges  of 
which  are  turned,  to  prevent  abra- 
sion of  the  fingers.  These  pigeon- 
holes fit  the  books,  but  not  too 
tightly.  When  a  book  is  lost  or 
removed,  another  of  the  same  size  is 
inserted  in  the  place  of  it.  The 
books  have  numbers  corresponding- 
to  the  numbers  on  the  library  case. 
When  a  pigeon  hole  is  empty  the 
book  with  corresponding  number  is 
out.     This  the  librarian   sees   at  a 


STJNDAY   SCHOOL  TVOELD. 


811 


123456789    10 


glance,  and  is  saved  tlie  trouble  of 
searching. 

The  Catalogtie  is  printed,  or 
plainly  written  on  cardboard,  and 
suspended  in  the  entrance  of  the 
school.  There  should  usually  he 
several  of  these.  Or  it  may  he 
printed  in  a  hook  form,  and  a  copy 
given  to  each  teacher,  who  may  re- 
commend certain  hooks  as  most  suit- 
able for  certain  members  of  his  class 
at  different  times.    Each  member  of 

Card  No.  I. 


Library  Card,  No.... 

Class  No Teacher.    ''\ 

Sclwlar's  Name.         Residence. 

Numters  of  Books  wanted. 

\ 

i 

1 

1 

the  library  should  be  provided  with 
two  cards,  which  we  will  call  I^o.  I. 
and  No.  II.  Upon  card  No.  I.  the 
scholar  writes  his  selections,  and  he 
always  retains  it  except  during  the 
time  that  the  librarian  is  taking  out 
the  books.  The  librarian  takes  the 
books  ia   the   order   in  which  the 


numbers  of  those  selected  stand  on 
the  card.  Card  No.  II.  is  the  scho- 
lar's introduction  to  the  librarian, 
and  when  once  given  to  him  it  is 
always  afterwards  ia  his  possession. 
Hence  the  scholar  has  only  one  card 
to  keep. 

Mode  op  Disteibtjto:n".  The 
scholar  leaves  his  book  at  the  library 
on  entering  the  school,  and  deposits 
card  No.  I.  in  a  box  provided  for 
that  purpose.  The  librarian  assorts 
these  cards  No.  I.  so  that  they  are 
arranged  by  classes.  The  books  are 
restored  to  their  places  in  the  case, 
and  in.  each  instance  the  card  that 
has  to  be  removed  to  give  place  to 
the  book  has  the  number  of  the 
Sunday  erased.  The  book  that  Jane 
Smith  wants  is  now  taken  out  of  the 
case,  the  number  of  it  is  erased 
from  card  No.  I.,  and  that  card  is 
placed  inside  the  book ;  while  card 
No.  II.  is  inserted  in  the  book's 
place  in  the  case.  If  that  book  is 
No.  40,  and  the  Sunday  is  the  4th, 
it  will  always  be  known  that  Jane 
Smith  holds  No.  40  while  her 
card  remains  in  pigeon-hole  No.  40, 
and  that  she  took  it  out  on  the  4tli 
Sunday  in  the  year,  because  the 
figure  4  is  the  highest  cancelled  on 
her  card.  "When  book  No.  40  is 
returned,  Jane  Smith's  card  must 
be  taken  out  to  make  room  for  the 
book.  The  books  for  each  class  are 
placed  together  on  the  librarian's 
table.  Each  book  contains  the  card 
(No.  I.)  of  the  scholar  who  wants  it. 
Just  before  the  last  hymn  is  sung 
the  librarian  passes  quietly  and 
rapidly  round  the  room  and  hands  to 
each  teacher  the  books  for  his  class. 
No  hook  is  given  to  a  scholar  until 
the  school  is  closed.  Then  the 
teacher  hands  to  each  scholar  the 
book  containing  that  scholar's  card 
(No.  I.). 

Advat^tages.  Not  more  than  one 
minute  is  taken  up  with  distribu- 
tion.     Perfect     accuracy     in     the 


812 


SimDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


Card  No.  II. 


Sundays.  |  1.  2.  3.  4.  5.  6.  7.  8.  9.  10.  11.  12.  13.  14.  15.  16.  17.  18. 


LIBRAEY     TICKET 

OF  THE 

Sunday -scliool. 

This  is  to  certifij  that  the  Bearer^ 

is  a  regularly  enrolled  Scholar,  in  Class  Xo 

Teacher. 

Superintendent  or  Secretary. 


tc 


'ff   •ef'   'Zf   'If   'Of   '68    '88    '18   '98   "28   '^8    "88  "68   '18   '08    '6o    'So 


changing  is  secured.  The  time  each 
book  has  been  out  can  be  ascer- 
tained at  any  time.  It  is  the 
simplest  and  easiest  for  the  libra- 
rian, who  has  no  books  to  keep, 
and  therefore  no  entries  to  make, 
involving  great  expenditiu-e  of  time. 
The  scholars  have  no  access  to  the 
library.  Yoiir  success  does  not 
depend  on  the  accuracy  of  the 
teacher. 

808.  Testimony  to  the  above 
Plan. — In  a  letter  to  the  editor  of 
the  Hive,  a  Sunday-school  librarian 
writes  as  follows  in  commendation 
of  the  above  plan: — ''  There  is  not 
the  least  doubt  (in  my  mind)  that  it 
is  far  more  simple,  and  of  far  less 
trouble  than  any  system  with  which 
I  am  acquainted  for  a  Sunday-school 
library.  It  works  well  with  the 
scholars;  all  the  larger  ones  fully 
understand  the  way  to  get  a  book 
from  the  library ;  and  in  the  case  of 
the  younger  ones,  with  the  co-opera- 
tion of  the  teacher,  it  works  ad- 
mirably. I  can  with  confidence  re- 
commend the  system  to  all  libra- 


rians, as  it  saves  trouble,  you  can 
tell  at  a. glance  what  book  is  out, 
and  the  time  that  a  scholar  has  had 
a  book.  I  have  shown  it  to  several 
friends  of  the  school,  and  also  ex- 
plained the  working  :  and  all  agree 
with  me  in  sapng  that  it  is  the  best 
system  that  has  ever  come  under 
their  notice." 

809.  Library  Catalogue. —  I  have 
seen  fully  one  half  the  session  of 
the  school  occupied  by  a  class  in 
making  its  selection  of  library  books, 
and  after  all  no  better  result  ob- 
tained than  this.  The  teacher  is 
not,  and  from  the  nature  of  the 
case  cannot  be,  acquainted  with  the 
character  of  the  books,  and  conse- 
quently he  can  give  no  help  to  the 
scholars  in  making  the  selection. 
It  is  a  mere  lottery,  with  the  chances 
sadly  against  success,  and  it  gives 
endless  trouble,  vexation,  and  dis- 
appointment. The  evil  might  be 
remedied  to  some  extent  by  having 
a  good  descriptive  catalogue.  In 
such  a  catalogue  not  only  the  name 
of  each  book  should  be  given,  but 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


318 


such,  a  description  of  its  character 
and  contents  as  to  enable  the  teachers 
and  scholars  to  choose  with  some 
degree  of  intelligence.  But  where 
is  the  superintendent,  or  where  are 
the  teachers,  that  will  undertake  to 
read  through  a  thousand  or  fifteen 
hundred  volumes,  and  prepare  such 
a  statement  of  their  contents  ?  Even 
were  this  possible,  the  expense  would 
have  to  be  considered.  8uch  a  cata- 
logue would  make  of  itself  quite  a 
volume,  the  printing  of  which  would 
cost  enough  to  supply  a  pretty  fair 
library. — Dr.  Hart. 


TEAOHEES'     PEIYATE      EE- 
PEEENOE  LIBEAEIES. 

810.  Principle  of  .  Selection. — 
In  the  coui'se  of  many  y'ears'  con- 
nection with  Sunday-schools,  we 
have  frequently  been  requested  by 
teachers  to  supply  them  with  the 
titles  of  books  most  likely  to  aid 
them  in  their  work.  This  request 
has  been  made  by  peasants  in  the 
south  of  England  and  by  mechanics 
in  the  north — men  whose  means  and 
knowledge  and  time  are  limited ; 
by  men  of  business,  with  larger 
means  and  information,  but  having 
little  time  and  but  a  slender  ac- 
quaintance with  books  ;  and  by  men 
of  greater  affluence,  ha^sdng  more 
time  at  their  disposal,  but  who  hap- 
pened not  to  have  in  their  well- 
stored  libraries  the  class  of  works 
best  adapted  for  the  special  require- 
ments of  Sunday-school  teaching. 
It  is  obvious  that  the  same  reply 
could   not    be    prudently  given  to 


every  one  who  proposed  the  question. 
A  list  prepared  for  teachers,  without 
any  regard  being  paid  to  individual 
circumstances,  might  discourage 
some  by  the  costliness  and  number 
of  the  volumes  it  contained,  and 
not  at  all  meet  the  case  of  others 
with  whom  time  and  expense  are 
not  such  matters  of  moment  as  that 
they  have  the  best  possible  assis- 
tance that  books  can  furnish.  To 
answer  this  often-repeated  question 
fully,  and  at  the  same  time  to  meet 
the  various  needs  of  teachers  in  al> 
the  diversified  circumstances  of  life, 
we  have  paid  some  attention  to  the 
selection  and  classification  of  the 
most  suitable  working  materials  with 
which  we  are  acquainted.  In  mak- 
ing this  selection  and  classification, 
we  have  been  guided  by  two  prin- 
ciples :  first,  that  as  far  as  possibls 
each  list  should  cover  all  the  ground 
supposed  to  be  occupied  by  the 
teacher  for  whom  it  is  designed; 
and  secondly,  that  the  books  in 
each  list  should  bear  a  due  relation 
to  each  other  in  price  and  in  their 
general  literarj^  worth.  No  teacher 
need  adopt  all  the  books  in  any  one 
list.  Indeed,  this  will  be  very 
seldom  done.  Historical  works  may, 
by  the  preference  of  taste,  be  selected 
from  one  list,  encyclopaedias  from 
another,  and  text-books  from  a 
third,  until  the  teacher  has  made 
choice  of  tool-books  better  adapted 
for  him  than  those  contained  by  any 
one  list  exclusive  of  the  rest.  We 
have  also  met  with  teachers  whose 
university  education  has  qualified 
them  for  using  books  more  advanced 
than  any  we  have  named.  Such  will 
not  need  to  be  reminded  of  works 
with  which  they  will  be  familiar. 


*^*   III  ordering  hooks,  Teachers  sliould  he  careful  to  give  the  TITLE, 
publisher's  name,  and  price,  in  full,  to  prevent  mistake. 


314 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


811.  List  No.  1.  Books  for  Teachers  of  Adult  or  advanced  Bible- 
classes,  to  whom  COST  of  material,  and  time  for  study,  are  not  so  much 
matters  for  consideration  as  obtaining  the  best  possible  aids  : — 


Bible 


The  Student's  Comprehensive 

Interleaved  Bible    .... 

Eadie's  Cruden  .     .     :    .     . 

Home's  Introduction,  4  vols. 

Angus's  Hand-book     .     .     . 

The  Biblical  Atlas .     .     .     , 

Robinson's  Researches,  3  vols. 

Stanley's  Sinai  and  Palestine 

Thomson's  Land  and  Book    . 

Kitto's  Ency.  of  Bib.  Litera- 
ture      

or,  Smith's  Bible  Dictionary  . 

Kitto's  Pictorial  Bible,  2  vols. 

Portable  Commentary,  2  vols. 

Alford's  Greek  Testament  for 
English  Readers  .... 

Mimpriss's  Harmony     .     .     . 

Topics  for  Teachers,  2  vols.  . 

Eadie's  Analytical  Bible  .     . 

Inglis's  Bible  Text  Encyclo- 
paedia   

Scripture  Text-book  and 
Treasury 

Stanley's  Jewish  Church, 
2  vols 

Kitto's  Pict.  His.  of  Palestine 

Student's  Old  and  New  Test. 
History,  2  vols 

Josephus 

Duns'  Bib.   Natural   Science 

The  Biblical  Treasury,  8  vols. 

Kitto's  Daily  Bible  Illustra- 
tions       

Jamieson's  Manners  &  Cus- 
toms       

Common-place BookTlodid.'&  Index  Rerum  .     .     . 


Concordance 
Companion 

Atlas     .     . 
Geography- . 

Encyclopcedia 

Commentary 


Text-hooJc 


Historical 


Bible  Illustration 


Bagster  .  . 

Stock      .  .  . 
Griffin  and  Co. 

Longmans  .  . 

R.  T.  S.  .  . 

R.  T.  S.  .  .  . 

Murray    .  .  . 

Murray  .  .  . 

Nelson    .  .  . 


s.  d. 

4  0 

15  0 
3  6 

13  6 

5  0 

6  6 
2  0 

16  0 

7  6 


Black  . 
Murray  . 
Sangsters 
Collins     . 


4  4  0 

5  5  0 
110 
0  15  0 


Rivington  .  . 
Stock.  .  .  . 
Stock  .  .  .  . 
Griffin  and  Co. 


14 
1 

7 


0    7  6 


GaU  and  Inglis 
Groombridge  &  Sons   0    2  6 


Murray   . 
Longmans 


1  12  0 

0     5  0 


Murray  .... 
Nelson  .... 
Mackenzie  .  .  . 
S.  S.  Union  (each) 


0  15  0 
0  5  0 
2  13  0 
0    18 


Oliphant  and  Co.       .280 

Oliphant  and  Co.      .076 
Stock 0    6  6 


812.  List  No.  2.     Books,  as  wide  in  their  range  of  subjects,  but  less  ex- 
pensive than  the  foregoing  list,  for  Teachers  of  Adult  or  advanced  classes  :^ 

7?-.7  ^  «•  ^• 

^''blc       ....  Mmiature  Quarto    ....  Bagster        ....  1     1  6 

Interleaved  Bible    ....  Stock 0  15  0 

Concordance    .     .  Eadie's  Cruden Griffin  and  Co.      ..036 

Companion  .    ,    .  Home's  Introduc.  (abridged)  Longmans    ....  0    9  0 

Angus's  Hand-book      .    .     .  R.  T.  S 0    5  0 

Atlas      ....  Scripture  Atlas Phillip 026 

Geography  .    .    .  Stanley's  Sinai  and  Palestine  Murray 0  16  0 

Thomson's  Land  and  Book    .  Nelson 0    7  6 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL    WOELD. 


315 


Encyclopcedia 


Treasury  of  Bib.  Knowledge . 

Or,  Smith's  Bible  Dictionary 
(abridged) 

Or,  Eadie's  Bib.  Encyclopeedia 

Kitto's  Pic.  Bible,  2  vols. 

Or,  Portable  Commentary, 
2  vols 

and  Mimpriss's  Harmony 

or,  Critical  Eng.  Test.,  3  vols. 

Topics  for  Teachers,  2  vols.  . 

Scripture  Text-book     .     .     . 

Pinnock's  Analyses,  Old  and 
New  Test.,  2  vols.     .     .     . 

or,  Baths's  Bible  jSIanual  .     . 

Jamieson's  Manners  &  Cus- 
toms     

Biblical  Reason  Why  .  .  . 
Common-place  BoohTo^(\.'s,  Index  Kerum    .    .    . 


Commentary 


Text-hooh 
Historical 


Bible  Illustratioii 


£  s.  d. 

Longmans    .     .     .     . 

0  11  6 

Murray 

Griffin  and  Co.      .     . 

110 

0    7  6 

Sangsters      .     .     .     . 

110 

Collins 

0  15  0 

Stock  (small  edition) 
Strahan 

0  7  6 
0  15  0 

Stock       

0     7  0 

Groombridge  &  Sons 

0    2  6 

Whittaker  .     .     .     . 

0    7  6 

Kisbet     .     .     . 

0  12  0 

Oliphant  and  Co.  .     . 
Houlston     .     .     .     . 

0  7  6 
0     2  6 

Stock 

0     6  6 

813.  List  No,  3.      Books  for  Teachers  of  average  Bible  or  New  Testa- 
ment Classes,  whose  time  for  preparation  is  more  limited: — 


Bible 


Concordance 
Companion  . 


™ 


Atlas      .    . 
Geography  . 

Encyclopcedia 
Commentary 

Text-booh    . 
Historical    . 


Bible  Illustration 


Polyglott  Reference  Bible 
or  an  Ordinary  Refer.  Bible  . 

and,  if  possible,  Treasury  of 
Scripture  Knowledge     .     . 

Eadie's  Cruden 

Companion  to  the  Bible    .     . 

or,  Barr's  Scripture  Student's 
Assistant 

Scripture  Atlas 

Thomson's  Land  and  Book    . 

or,  Kitto's  Scripture  Lands  . 

Eadie's  Pocket  Bible  Diet.  . 

Portable  Commentary,  3  vols. 

Topics  for  Teachers,  2  vols.  . 

Scripture  Text-book     . 

if  possible,  Pinnock's  Analy- 
ses, 2  vols 

Library  of  Biblical  Literature 


£  s.  d. 
Bagster  .  .  .  .  0  14  6 
Oxford  or  London  ed. 

3s.  6d.  to  0  10  6 


Bagster  .  . 
Griffin  and  Co. 
R.  T.  S.       .     . 


Common-place  Book  An  ordinary  ruled  M.S.  book 


Blackie 

Phillip   .     .     .  Is.to 

Nelson 

Bohn.     ...... 

Griffin  and  Co.     .     . 

Wesley 

Stock 

Groombridge  &  Sons 

Whittaker  and  Co. 
S.  S.  Union       .     .     . 
about 


0  10  0 
0  3  6 
0     2  0 


3  0 
2  6 


0  15  0 


0  7  6 
0  10  6 
0     10 


814.  List  N"o.  4.      Books  for  Teachers  of  Junior  Classes,  who  have  little 
time  for  study,  and  to  whom  the  cost  of  material  is  a  consideration: — 


Bible A  Common  Reference  Bible from  0 

Concordance     .     .  Snow's  Concordance      .     .  .  S.  ^Y.  Partridge    .     .  0 

Companion .     .     .  Companion  to  the  Bible    .  .  R.  T.  S.   .     .    ,    .     .0 

p  2 


s.  d. 
2  6 

1  6 

2  0 


316 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOBLD. 


£  s.  d. 

Atlas      ....  Scripture  Atlas PMllip    .    .     6d.  to  0     10 

Geography  .     .     .  Geography  of  the  Bible    .     .  E.  T.  S 0     16 

Encydojxedia  .     .  Green's  Biblical  Dictionary  .  Stock 0     2  0 

Commentary     .     .  Pocket  Commentary     .     .     .  R.  T.  S 0    4  0 

or,  Cobbiu's  Port.  Com.     .     .  Ward  &  Lock 5s. 6d.to  0  10  6 
Topics  for  Teachers,  2  vols.  .  Stock  ....  0     7  0 

Text-booh     .     .     .  The      Scripture     Text-book 

(alone) Groombridge  &  Sons  0 

Curtis's  Outlines  of  Scripture  Simpkin  and  Co.      .  0 


0  8 
Historical   .     .     .  Curtis's  Outlines  of  Scripture  Simpkin  and  Co.       .0     0  6 

Common-place BooWoi^y -hook  for  MS about  0    0  6 

— Hive. 


815.  Books  needful  for  the 
Teaclier.  —  The  Sunday  -  school 
teacher's  library  is,  therefore,  a 
necessary  part  of  his  furniture. 
Books  are  the  spiritual  counsellors  of 
his  studious  hours.  Books  are  his 
intellectual  stimulants.  Books  solve 
his  enigmas,  enlighten  his  darkness, 
enlarge  his  knowledge,  deepen  his 
impressions,  arouse  his  energies,  and 
encourage  his  efforts.  God's  Spirit 
has  blessed  them  largely  in  these, 
and  has  stamped  the  highest  value  on 
such  means,  by  making  Divine  reve- 
lation a  book. — Dr.  Steel. 


TEAOHEES'  SECTION  OF  THE 
SUNDAY-SCHOOL  LIBKAEY. 

816.  Books  for  the  Teacher  and 
on  Teaching. — The  following  are  a 
feiv  of  the  books  that  mil  be  found 
useful  to  teachers,  exclusive  of  com- 
mentaries and  ordinary  works  of 
reference:  —  Pardee's  S.  S.  Index 
(Nisbet)  ;  Taylor's  S.  S.  Photo- 
grajjhs  (Johnstone  and  Hunter) ; 
Facts  a?id  Fancies  (S.  S.  Union) ; 
Our  Work  (S.  S.  Union) ;  Lt'ffht  and 
Love  (Hamilton) ;  £ible  -  class 
Studies  (Hodder  and  Stoughton) ; 
Teachers^  Model,  and  Model  Teaclier 
(Clarke);  Todd's  S.  S.  Teacher 
(Houlston    and     Wright);     J.     A. 


James's  S.  8.  Teacher'' s  Guide. 
Leif child's  Remarkahle  Facts 
(Hodder) ;  Cranfield's  Branches 
Running  over  the  Wall  (S.  S. 
Union)  ;  Sunday-school  Hand-hook^ 
by  E.  House,  M.A.  (Hitchcock  and 
Walden,  Cincinnati) ;  Jewels ,  by  Dr. 
Newton  (Partridge) ;  Bible  Won- 
ders, by  Dr.  Newton  (Partridge) ; 
Watson's  Senior  Classes  (S.  S. 
Union) ;  The  Art  of  Questioning 
and  securing  Attention,  by  Fitch  (S. 
S.  Union);  Henry  Dunn's  Prmci^a^es 
of  Teaching  (Simpkin  and  Mar- 
shall) ;  Henderson's  Good  Steward 
(S.  S.  Union) ;  Collins' s  Teachers^ 
Companion  (S.  S.  Union) ;  Inglis's 
S.  S.  Teaching  (S.  S.  Union) ; 
Currie's  Early  and  Infant  School 
Education  (S.  S.  Union) ;  Fitch  On 
3Iemory  (S.  S.  Union) ;  Hartley's 
Pictorial  Teaching  (S.  S.  Union) ; 
Groser's  Illustrative  Teaching  (S.  S. 
Union) ;  Groser's  The  Teacher  and 
his  Books  (S.  S.  Union) ;  Sunday- 
school  Hand-Book  (S.  S.  Union) ; 
Blackett's  Bible-class  (S.  S.  Union) ; 
Topics  for  Teachers  (Elliot  Stock); 
The  Class  and  the  Desk  (Sangster) ; 
Bible  Lore  (Hodder  and  Stoughton) ; 
Dr.  Edmond's  Children^  Church  at 
Home  (Nelson). 

817.  Choice   of  Books.  —  The 

teacher's  private  library  must  neces- 
sarily be  small,  but  it  should  be 
select.  He  that  can  afford  to  pur- 
chase few,  should  discriminate  well 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


317 


tefore  lie  expends  his  money.  His 
books  should  be  as  well  chosen  as  his 
friends,  and  they  should  be  his  best 
companions,  most  consulted  and 
esteemed. — Dr.  Steel, 

818.  The  Teachers'  Library.— 
An  indispensable  element  of  success 
in  the  management  of  a  normal 
class,  is  that  the  members  of  it  have 
opportunity  for  reading  and  study. 
The  mere  enrolment  of  one's  name  in 
a  normal  class  will  not  transform  a 
poor  teacher  into  a  good  one.  Ex- 
cellence as  a  teacher  is  only  to  be 
attained  by  hard  work  and  much 
study.  The  teacher  must  not  only, 
by  practice  and  observation,  learn 
how  to  awaken  attention  and  com- 
municate knowledge,  but  he  must 
diligently  acquire  the  knowledge  to 
be  communicated.  Is^o  glibness  of 
tongue,  or  facility  in  handling  a 
class,  will  compensate  for  shallow- 
ness of  knowledge.  Better  a  little 
awkwardness  of  manner,  where 
there  is  substantial,  solid  matter  at 
the  bottom,  than  this  superficial 
knowledge  with  which  many  are  con- 
tent. The  Sabbath-school  teacher 
has  one  text-book,  the  Holy  Bible, 
and  of  all  books  ever  written, 
none  so  much  requires,  or  so  well 
rewards,  diligent,  patient,  varied, 
continual  study.  The  teacher  who 
wants  to  benefit  seriously  his  class, 
and  to  attach  them  permanently  to 
the  school  and  the  chui'ch,  must  give 
many  hours  of  each  week  to  study. 
He  should  study  exhaustively  the 
special  lesson  for  the  week,  and  he 
vshould  be  all  the  while  engaged  in 
some  collateral  study.  In  such  a 
course  he  has  the  happiness,  not  only 
of  increasing  greatly  his  usefulness 
to  others,  but  of  promoting  most 
effectually  his  own  growth  as  a 
Christian.  No  Christians  grow  so 
steadily  in  Bible  knowledge  as  those 
who  thus  study  for  the  purpose  of 
teaching     others.       The     impelling 


motive  gives  a  point  and  a  certainty 
to  their  acquisitions,  not  attained  by 
the  ordinary  listless  methods  of 
general  reading.  But  if  teachers  are 
thus  to  be  students,  they  need  books. 
They  need,  not  merely  two  or  three 
choice,  indispensable  books,  but  a 
pretty  large  collection  of  books.  No 
one  book,  no  half-dozen  books,  con- 
tain all  that  the  teacher  requires. 
There  are  some  books  which  he 
needs  to  read  through.  There  are 
others,  works  of  reference,  which  he 
needs  to  consult  only  on  particular 
points,  as  occasion  requires.  The 
books  necessary  to  constitute  an 
ordinary  library  for  the  wants  of  a 
Sunday-school  teacher,  make  at  least 
a  hundred  volumes,  many  of  them 
large,  expensive  volumes.  Of 
course,  where  so  many  are  not  to  be 
had,  the  teacher  will  accept  less 
with  thankfulness.  But  where  the 
means  are  not  wanting,  he  would 
prefer  to  increase  the  number,  rather 
than  to  diminish  it.  There  are 
teachers  so  blessed  with  abundance 
of  this  world's  goods  and  with  a 
willing  mind,  that  they  can  have  in 
their  own  homes,  and  at  their  own 
absolute  disposal  and  use,  all  the 
books  they  need  for  helping  them  in 
their  work  of  teaching.  But  the 
cases  are  comparatively  few.  Of  the 
three  hundred  thousand  or  more,  who 
are  engaged  in  the  Sabbath- school 
work,  nine-tenths,  at  least,  have  not 
the  means  thus  to  provide  for  their 
wants.  How  shall  this  great  want 
be  met  ?  Yarious  plans  have  been 
suggested,  all  of  them  containing 
desirable  features.  The  best  way, 
where  the  want  is  so  great  and  so 
pressing,  is  not  to  wait  till  some  en- 
tirely unexceptionable  method  has 
been  debased,  but  to  take  whatever 
is  good  and  practicable  in  every 
method,  and  thus  feel  our  way  along 
till  we  arrive  at  the  general  result. 
A  very  excellent  scheme  has  been 
projected,  and  begun  to  be  carried 


818 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


out  in  New  York,  at  the  suggestion 
of  Mr.  Vincent,  namely,  to  establish 
a  Teachers'  Library  for  the  city. 
The  details  of  this  plan  have  been 
given  in  previous  numbers  of  our 
paper,  and  therefore  need  not  be  re- 
peated here.  The  plan,  we  think,  is 
better  for  small  towns  and  villages 
even  than  for  large  cities.  But  even 
if  every  village,  town  and  city  in 
the  United  States  had  its  Teachers' 
Library,  the  case  would  still  not  be 
met.  The  great  mass  of  teachers 
who  belong  to  country  congregations 
would  still  be  unprovided  for  ;  and 
even  where  there  is  a  central  library 
belonging  to  the  whole  town  or  vil- 
lage, the  teachers  of  a  particular 
school  could  not  in  the  nature  of  the 
oase  have  the  necessary  facility  in 
the  use  of  the  books.  There  are 
many  large  works  of  reference, 
commentaries,  encyclopaedias,  Bible 
'dictionaries,  concordances,  atlases, 
&c.,  that  need  to  be  always  at  hand 
in  the  room  when  the  teachers  meet. 
Every  school,  therefore,  wants  its 
own  Teachers'  Library,  just  as  it 
wants  its  own  normal  class.  It  is 
very  well  to  have  these  larger  libra- 
ries for  a  whole  town  or  city,  just 
as  it  is  well  to  have  these  large  nor- 
mal institutes.  But  the  town  or  city 
library  cannot  dispense  with  the 
necessity  of  a  library  for  the  teachers 
of  each  particular  school,  any  more 
than  a  big,  central,  children's  library 
could  answer  for  all  the  Sunday- 
school  children  of  the  town  or  city. 
The  great  life-work  of  the  Sunday- 
school  teacher  is  to  be  done  after  all 
in  connection  with  the  school  of  some 
particular  church,  and  we  should 
provide  for  him  there  the  needed 
aliment  in  the  way  of  books,  and  the 
needed  training  and  practice  in  the 
way  of  a  normal  class.  Let  every 
congregation  have  its  normal  class, 
and  every  normal  class  have  its  li- 
brary, and  let  this  library  be  as 
ample  as  the  means  of  the  congre- 


gation will  allow.  At  the  same  ■ 
time,  let  us  have  our  institutes  and  I 
our  imion  libraries,  for  general 
purposes  which  are  beyond  the 
means  of  any  particular  congrega- 
tion. What  are  the  books  that 
should  compose  the  Teachers'  Library 
for  a  particular  congregation  or 
school  ?  It  is  of  course  impossible  to 
give  a  categorical  answer  to  this 
question.  The  wants  and  the  means 
of  particular  schools  vary.  Still, 
some  practical  suggestions  may  not 
be  out  of  place.  We  will  therefore 
name  some  particular  books,  and 
some  classes  of  books,  that  are 
needed  by  almost  every  school ;  and 
it  is  well  to  notice  in  passing,  that 
any  book  that  is  needed  by  the 
school,  is  desirable  for  the  individual 
teacher,  if  he  can  have  it  for  his 
own.  Of  classes  of  books,  the  first 
to  be  named  is  commentaries.  The 
school  needs  at  least  one  good  com- 
mentary on  the  whole  Bible,  such  as 
Scott's,  Clarke's,  Henry's,  or,  better 
still,  Lange's,  now  in  course  of  pub- 
lication. They  need  particular 
commentaries  on  whatever  particular 
book  the  school  is  for  the  time 
studying.  Of  concordances,  there  is 
nothing  better  than  Cruden,  either  in 
its  full  form,  as  published  by  Dodd, 
or  in  its  abridgment  as  published  by 
the  Tract  Society.  Bible  diction- 
aries are  the  next  desideratum.  Of 
these  we  have  now  great  choice. 
Smith's  is  in  three  forms,  namely,  a 
thick  12mo.,  a  stout  8vo.,  and  in 
three  large  8vos.  Smith's  is,  on  the 
whole,  the  most  complete  now  in  the 
market.  Kitto's  various  publications 
in  illustration  of  Biblical  subjects  are 
of  great  value,  particularly  his 
Cyclopsedia  of  Biblical  Literature. 
The  new  Biblical  Cyclopaedia,  now 
issuing  by  the  Harpers,  edited  by 
Dr.  McClintock,  promises  to  be  a 
work  of  the  greatest  value  to  Sab- 
bath-school teachers.  A  good  Bible 
Atlas   is  indispensable.     There   are 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


319 


some    works    of    a    general    kind, 
which,  if  not  indispensable,  are  yet 
very  important.     Among   these   we 
may  name    Lippincott's   Gazetteer, 
Webster's   Unabridged    Dictionary, 
and    some    good    general    encyclo- 
paedia, such  as  Apple  ton's  or  Cham- 
bers's.    As  some  of  oiu'  schools  con- 
tain teachers   who    are   acquainted 
with     the     original    languages     of 
Scripture,  it  would  be  well  to  have  a 
Hebrew    and    a   Greek   Lexicon  in 
them.     Besides  works  of  reference, 
there   are   many  books   which    the 
teacher  needs  to  read  consecutively. 
Books   containing  illustrative  anec- 
dotes, which  may  be  used  in  teach- 
ing,   have   their  use,    though   good 
teachers  gradually  learn  to  pick  up 
facts  from  their  own  observation  and 
experience.     Teachers  need  to  read 
what  has  been  written  by  eminent 
authors  in  regard  to  the  work  in 
which  they  are  engaged,  such  as  The 
American    Sunday  -  scliool    and    its 
Adjuncts,  by  James  "W.  Alexander ; 
Forty  Years  in  the  Sunday-school, 
by  Dr.  Tyng ;   The  Teacher   Teach- 
ing, and  the  Teacher  Taught,  by  Mr. 
Packard,  of  the  American  Sunday- 
School     Union;      Todd's    Sabbath- 
school  Teacher,  and  very  many  other 
books  of  the  kind  which   we  need 
not  name,  as  they  are  announced  al- 
most every  week  in  the  advertising 
columns  of  this  paper.     In  addition 
to  the  books  which  refer  specifically 
to  teaching  in  Sunday-schools,  there 
are  some  excellent  works  on  teaching 
generally,  with  which  the  Sabbath- 
school  teacher  shoidd  acquaint  him- 
self.    Among  these  we   may  name 
Burton's    Culture   of  the    Observing 
Faculties,  Sheldon's  Elementary  In- 
struction, Northend's  Teacher'' s  As- 
sistant, Abbott's   Teacher^  Wicker- 
sham's     Methods     of    Listruction, 
Ogden's  Science  of  Teaching,  Emer- 
son and  Potter's  School  and  School- 
master, Barnard's  American  Peda- 
gogy, Sewell's  Princi])les  of  Educa- 


tion, and  other  similar  works,  of 
which  there  is  no  lack.  A  Sunday- 
school  teacher  should  have  some  good 
work  of  this  sort  always  on  hand, 
not  limiting  his  reading  of  profes- 
sional literature  to  any  one  writer, 
but  taking  up  one  book  after  another. 
His  ideas  on  the  subject  will  thus 
become  gradually  enlarged,  and  he 
will  escape  the  tendency  which 
nearly  all  of  us  have,  of  falling  into 
a  dull  routine. 


819. 


''Make  the  Bible  your 


study,"  said  Matthew  Henry ;  ' '  there 
is  no  knowledge  which  I  am  more 
desirous  to  increase  in  than  that. 
Men  get  wisdom  by  books ;  but 
wisdom  towards  God  is  to  be  gotten 
out  of  God's  book,  and  that  by 
digging.  Most  men  do  but  walk  over 
the  surface  of  it,  and  pick  up  here 
and  there  a  flower.  Few  dig  into 
it."--i>/-.  Steel, 


YOUira  MEN'S  SECTION  OP  THE 
SUNDAY-SCHOOL  LIBEAEY. 

820.  Books  for  Young  Men.— 
The  following  are  among  the  books 
that  should  have  a  place  in  this 
department  :  Ecce  Deus,  by  Dr. 
Parker  (Hodder  &  Stoughton) ;  Credo 
(Hodder  &  Stoughton) ;  Jesus  Christ 
the  Centre  (Stock)  ;  The  Young  Man 
away  from  Home,  by  J.  A.  James 
(Hamilton) ;  James's  Young  Man^s 
Guide  (Hamilton) ;  Dr.  Thomas's 
Progress  and  Crisis  of  Being. — 
Knoivledge,  the  Fit  and  Intended 
Furniture  of  the  Mind  (Hodder  & 
Stoughton) ;  Paxton  Hood's  World 
of  Anecdote  (Hodder  &  Co.) ;  Henry 
Ward  Beecher's  Lectures  to  Young 
Men  (Ward) ;  the  yearly  volumes  of 
Lectiu-es  delivered  in  Exeter  Hall, 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Christian 
Young  Men's  Association  of  London; 


320 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOKLD. 


Foster's  Essays  (Bolin)  ;  Foster's 
Lectures  (Bohn) ;  Coleridge's  Aids 
to  Rejlection  (Murray)  ;  How  to 
Study  the  Neio  Testament,  by  Dr. 
Alford  (Strahan) ;  Bible  iore  (Hodder 
&  Stoughton) ;  Arnot  on  tlie  Book 
of  Proverbs  (Nelson) ;  Henry  W. 
Beecher's  Eyes  and  Ears  (Sampson, 
Low  &  Co.)  ;  "W.  Guest's  Lectures  to 
Young  Men  ;  Dr.  Landels'  Lectures 
to  Young  Men ;  Dr.  Duns'  Science 
and  Christian  Thought  (R.  T.  S.); 
Select  Wi'itings  of  Andreiv  Fuller 
(Bohn) ;  Select  Writings  of  Eobert 
Hall  (Bohn) ;  Life  and  Letters  of 
John  Foster  (Bohn)  ;  Luther^s  Table 
Talk  (Bohn);  Seldon's  Table  Talk 
(Constable) ;  Bible  Teaching  in  Na- 
ture (Macmillan)  ;  Guesses  at  Truth 
(Macmillan) ;  Dream ^7«o?7je(Strahan); 
Mecreations  of  a  Country  Parson, 
2  vols.  (Longmans) ;  Leisure  Hours 
in  Town  (Longmans) ;  Archbishop 
Trench's  Select  Glossary,  Study  of 
Words,  England  Past  and  Present; 
Dean  Alford' s  Queenh  English ; 
Mil-man's  History  of  the  Jews  and 
History  of  Christicmity ;  The  Orbs 
of  Heaven  ;  Layard's  Nineveh 
(Murray)  ;  Eustace's  Classical  Tour ; 
Buckley's  Ruins  of  Ancient  Cities ; 
Self-Helj},  by  Smiles ;  Lndustrial 
Biography,  by  Smiles ;  Heads  and 
Hands  in  the  World  of  Labour 
(Strahan);  Better  Days  for  Working 
People  (Strahan) ;  Stephens's  Essays 
171  Ecclesiastical  Biography  (Long- 
mans) ;  Essays  ivritten  in  the  Lnter- 
vals  of  Business  (Parker) ;  Yaughan's 
Essays  (Hodder  &  Co.) ;  Sir  Humph- 
rey's Consolations  in  Tra^e/ (Murray); 
The  Honourable  Robert  Boyle's  Re- 
flections (Parker) ;  Professor  Rogers's 
Eclipse  of  Faith ;  his  Reason  and  Faith 
— an  Essay  ;  also  Essays  contributed 
to  various  Reviews,  chiefly  to  the 
Edinburgh  ;  Miall's  Basis  of  Belief 
(Miall) ;  Ancient  Maxims  for  3Iodern 
Times  (Stock) ;  Life  Thoughts,  by 
Henry  W.  Beecher  (Strahan)  ;  Reign 
of  LaWj   by   the    Duke  of  Argyle 


(Strahan) ;    Counsel  and   Cheer  for 
the  Battle  of  Life  (Strahan). 

821.  Choice  Extract. — Books  are 
a  guide  in  youth,  and  an  entertainment 
for  age.  They  support  us  under  soli- 
tude, and  keep  us  from  becoming  a 
burden  to  ourselves.  They  help  us 
to  forget  the  crossness  of  men  and 
things,  compose  our  cares  and  our 
passions,  and  lay  our  disappointments 
asleep.  "When  we  are  weary  of  the 
living,  we  may  repair  to  the  dead, 
who  have  nothing  of  pee^dshness, 
pride,  or  design  in  their  conversation. 
— Collier, 


822. 


1  have  somewhere  seen 


it  observed  that  we  should  make  the 
same  use  of  a  book  that  a  bee  does  of 
a  flower ;  she  steals  sweets  from  it, 
but  does  not  injure  it. —  Colton. 


823. 


Every  great  book  is  an 


action,  and  every  great  action  is  a 
book. — Luther. 

824.  Saying  of  a  Bishop. — It  is 
recorded  of  a  bishop,  who  was  im- 
prisoned for  well  nigh  twenty  years, 
with  no  other  book  than  his  Bible, 
that  "he  was  often  heard  to  profess 
solemnly,  that  in  all  his  former 
studies,  and  various  readings  and 
observations,  he  had  never  met  with 
a  more  useful  guide,  or  a  surer 
interpreter  to  direct  his  paths  in  the 
dark  places  of  the  lively  oracles,_  to 
give  information  to  his  understanding 
in  the  dark  passages,  or  satisfaction 
to  his  conscience  in  the  experimental 
truth  of  them,  than  when  he  was  thus 
driven  by  necessity  to  the  assiduous 
contemplation  of  the  Scriptures  alone, 
and  to  weigh  it  by  itseK,  as  it  were, 
in  the  balance  of  the  sanctuary." — 
Dr.  Steel. 

825.  Read  Good  Books.— We  do 

not  here  allude  to  books  about  re- 
ligion, but  to  those  written  by  think- 
ing men.     The  less  time  you  have 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOBLD. 


321 


for  reading,  the  more  important  that 
your  books  should  be  wisely  selected. 
Trashy  books,  that  need  no  labour, 
are  mental  poison ;  a  habit  of  read- 
ing them  iujures  the  mind  as  irre- 
parably as  a  habit  of  taking  poison 
would  ruin  the  body. — Davids. 

826.  Four  Classes  of  Headers. — 
Coleridge  divides  readers  into  four 
classes :  the  first  like  the  hour-glass 
— their  reading,  like  the  sand,  run- 
ning in  and  then  out,  and  leaving 
not  a  vestige  behind ;  the  second 
like  the  sponge,  which  imbibes 
everything,  only  to  return  it  in  the 
same  state,  or  perhaps  dirtier ;  the 
third,  like  the  jelly-bag,  allows  the 
pure  to  pass  away,  and  keeping  only 
the  refuse  and  the  dregs ;  and  the 
foui'th,  like  the  slaves  in  the  mines 
of  Golconda,  casting  aside  all  that  is 
worthless,  and  retaining  only  the 
diamonds  and  gems. — J>r.  Steel. 

827.  Saying  of  Gibbon.— 
Gibbon  somewhere  makes  the  re- 
mark, ' '  that  he  usually  read  a  book 
three  times — he  first  read  it,  glanc- 
ing through  it  to  take  in  the  general 
design  of  the  book,  and  the  struc- 
ture of  the  argument ;  he  read  it 
again  to  observe  how  the  work  was 
conducted,  to  fix  its  general  prin- 
ciples on  the  memory ;  and  he  read 
it  a  third  time  to  notice  the  blemishes, 
or  the  beauties,  and  to  criticise  its 
bearing  and  character." 

828.  Milton  on  Books.— 

**  However,  many  books, 

"Wise  men  have  said  are  wearisome. 
Who  reads 

Incessantly,  and  to  his  reading 
brings  not 

A  spirit  and  judgment  equal  or 
superior 

(And  what  he  brings  what  needs  he 
elsewhere  seek). 

Uncertain  and  unsettled  still  re- 
mains; 


Deep  versed  in  books,  and  shallow 

in  himself. 
Crude  or  intoxicate,  collecting  toys 
And  trifies  for  choice  matters,  with 

a  sponge, 
As   children  gathering    pebbles   on 

the  shore." — Milton. 

829.  Books,  Strange  Things. — 

''  Books  are  strange  things.  Al- 
though untongued  and  dumb, 

Yet  with  their  eloquence  they 
sway  the  world ; 

And,  powerless  and  impassive  as 
they  seem. 

Move  o'er  the  impressible  minds 
and  hearts  of  men 

Lilie  fire  across  a  prairie.  Mind- 
sparks, 

They  star  the  else  dark  firma- 
ment ;  they  spur 

The  thoughtless  to  reflection,  raise 
the  prone 

With  the  strong  lever  of  intelli- 
gence ; 

Furnish  the  empty-minded,  chart 
the  soul 

Through  her  stern,  perilous  voy- 
age ;  pedestal 

The  great  and  gifted,  beckoning 
meaner  men 

To  gaze  upon  their  mightier  works 
and  ways. 

Oh,  that  all  books  were  such ! " — 
S.  W.  Partridge. 

830.  Bacon  on  Heading.  — 
"  Eeading  maketh  a  full  man,"  said 
Lord  Bacon ;  and  ' '  Out  of  the 
abundance  of  the  heart  the  mouth 
speaketh,"  said  a  greater  than  he. 
Well  furnished  in  mind  by  readiag 
and  thought,  the  teacher  is  enabled 
to  communicate  solid  instruction  to 
his  youthful  charge.  All  who  have 
been  successful  in.  imparting  know- 
ledge have  been  assiduous  in  ac- 
quiring it  for  themselves.  They 
have  made  books  their  companions, 
and  from  the  soul-quickening  page 


322 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WORLD. 


have  drawn  forth  their  inspiration. 
— Dr.  Steel. 


re- 


831.  Todd's  Advice.— Todd 
marks,  "Do  not  read  too  many 
books;  read  thoroughly  what  you 
undertake.  Buy  hut  few  hooks: 
and  never  buy  till  you  can  pay  for 
ivhat  you  buy. 


YOUlia  WOMEN'S  SECTION 
OP  THE  SUNDAY-SGHOOL 
LIBEARY. 

832.  Books  for  Young  Women. 
— The  following  is  a  select  hst  of 
a  few  hooks  that  may  he  added  to 
this  hranch  of  the  S.  S.  Library: — 
Education   of  the   Heart,   by   Mrs. 
Elhs   (Hodder   &   Co.) ;   Ourselves ; 
Essays  on  Women,  by  E.  Lynn  Lin- 
ton (Routledge);    The   Young  JVo- 
7nen''s     Guide,     by    J.     A.     James 
(Hamilton) ;    Characteristics  of  Wo- 
7nen,  by  Mrs.  Jameson  (Routledge) ; 
Chajiters  on  Flowers,  by  Charlotte 
Elizabeth ;    Women  of  the  Puritan 
Times,  by  Anderson  (Blackie  &  Son) ; 
Ladies    of   the    Reformatio7i ;    and 
Ladies  of  the  Covenant,  by  the  same 
author.      Bound    volumes     of     the 
3Iothe)'''s  Friend;  Heroines  of  His- 
tory,   by   Mrs.    Owen   (Routledge) ; 
Vestmd's    Martyrdom    (Hodder    & 
Co.);   The  Bairns  (Hodder  &  Co.); 
Priest  and  Nun  (Hodder   &   Co.) ; 
Countess    De   Caspar  in' s  Near  and 
Heavenly  Horizons  (Strahan) ;   Dora 
Greenwell's  Essays  (Strahan). 


THE  SOHOLAES'  SECTION 
OF  THE  SUNDAY-SCHOOL 
LIBEAEY. 

833.  Arrangement.  —  Much  de- 
pends on  the  librarian's  methodical 


habits,  and  his  knowledge  of  books^ 
in   cases  when  the   arrangement  is 
left  to  him.     It  is  too  often  the  cus- 
tom to  place  books  on  the  shelves^ 
regardless  of  their  nature,  according 
simply  to  the  size  of  the  volumes. 
In  small  libraries  this  may  not  be 
easily  avoided.     Yet  even   in   such 
instances  it  is  better  to  arrange  the 
books  in  classes,  since  it  then  can  be 
more  easily  seen  what  kind  of  books 
need  to  be  added:  while  the  work 
of  changing   and   selecting  may  be 
more     readily     accomplished.       As 
books  for  boys   are   not   always  sa 
eligible  for  girls,  it  may  be  useful 
to  have  two  great  divisions  at  least : 
and  each  of  these  divisions  may  be 
further  divided  to  suit  the  ages  of 
the  scholars  or  theii*  general  attain- 
ments.   A  nseful  arrangement  might 
be    made    as    follows : — 1.   Infants' 
section.      2.    Junior    section — boys, 
girls.    3.  Senior  section — boys,  guis. 
Matters  would  be  very  greatly  sim- 
plified if  on  every  scholar's  library 
ticket,  or  opposite  his  name  in  the 
book,  there  were  placed  the  number 
of  the  section  to  which  he  belongs ; 
and    also    if    the    catalogue    were 
printed  or  written  in  corresponding 
sections. 

834.  Ordering  Books. — When  a 
book  is  ordered  it  is  always  the 
safest  plan  to  give  the  title,  and  the 
jniblisher^s  name  in  full.  Sometimes 
there  are  several  editions  of  one 
work ;  these  editions  vary  in  price 
according  to  style  of  binding,  &c. 
It  may  be  needful,  therefore,  to 
state  the  ^j/-ece  also.  When  only 
the  title,  or  the  author^ s  name,  is 
known,  the  bookseller  will  in  nearly 
all  cases  be  able  to  trace  the  book  in 
question  and  supply  particulars  of 
cost,  &c.  Most  booksellers  make 
some  allowance  to  Sunday-schools 
off  the  published  price.  Yet  this  is 
optional,  and  teachers  have  no  right 
to  demand  that  the  bookseller  shall 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WORLD. 


323 


forego  his  profit.      "  Live  and  let 
Uve." 

835.  Catalogues. — There  are  some 
difB.ciilties  connected  with  the  man- 
agement of  the  Sabbath-school 
librarj^  which  require  for  their  re- 
moval merely  good  business  habits 
and  abilities  on  the  part  of  the 
librarian.  But,  as  before  observed, 
there  are  two  difficulties  not  reached 
by  ordinary  business  methods.  The 
first  of  these  is  the  selection  of  the 
right  kind  of  books  in  furnishing 
the  library.  Out  of  nearly  four 
thousand  separate  publications  now 
set  before  the  teachers,  as  candidates 
for  a  place  in  the  library,  there  is  of 
necessity  a  large  amount  of  trash, 
and  no  small  amount  that  is  worse 
than  trash.  It  is  to  many  teachers 
and  superintendents  an  appalling 
task,  under  the  circumstances,  to 
imdertake  to  make  an  intelligent 
choice.  The  other  difficulty,  to 
which  also  I  have  referred,  is  the 
need  that  the  children  have  for 
guidance  in  choosing  from  the  books 
that  are  m  the  library.  The  reme- 
dies for  this  are  twofold.  First,  the 
catalogue,  instead  of  being,  as  it 
usually  is,  a  mere  meagre  list  of 
titles  of  books,  should  be  of  a  de- 
scriptive character,  full  enough  at 
least  to  give  some  clue  to  the  cha- 
racter and  adaptedness  of  each 
volume.  Secondly,  teachers  should 
make  it  a  point,  more  than  they 
now  do,  to  become  acquainted  with 
the  library.  If  it  were  possible, 
every  teacher  should  know  the  cha- 
racter of  every  book  in  the  library. 
To  make  even  approximation  to  tms 
possible,  the  number  of  books  (not 
of  volumes,  but  of  separate  publica- 
tions) must  be  greatly  reduced. — 
Dr.  Hart. 

836.  Prepared  Lists  of  books 
supposed  to  be  suitable  for  S,  S. 
libraries  have  been  compiled  with 
great    care   by    several   publishing 


houses ;  and  may  be  had  on  appli- 
cation through  any  bookseller.  The 
following  is  a  list  of  this  kind: — 
"It  is  hoped  that  the  publication  of 
this  list  will  save  teachers  and 
others  much  time  and  trouble  in  the 
task  of  selecting  books  for  their 
scholars  from  a  number  of  cata- 
logues. As  the  books  named  in  this 
list  are  gathered  from  different 
sources  and  at  some  expense,  they 
can  only  be  supplied  direct  to  the 
retail  purchaser.  All  orders  should 
therefore  be  sent  direct  to  Elliot 
Stock,  62,  Pateexostee-eow,  Lon- 
DOiSr,  E.G.,  who  will  supply  them  at 
the  usual  discount  to  schools,  and 
where  £5  worth,  nett,  are  ordered, 
the  carriage  of  the  parcel  will  be 
paid  to  any  railway  station  within 
200  miles  of  London."  —  Extract 
from  the  Preface. 

To  facilitate  selection,  the  books 
are  classified  according  to  price  only. 
All  may  not  be  equally  suited  for  one 
Sunday-school,  but  a  little  enquiry 
on  the  part  of  the  library  committee 
will  enable  them  to  decide. 

837.  Books  at  Sixpence  Each. 
(Cloth  gilt  edges).  Adopted  Son — 
Angus  Tarlton — Harry  Dangerfield — 
True  Heroism — The  Babes  in  the 
Basket — The  Prince  in  Disguise— The" 
Ptose  in  the  Desert — Martha  and  her 
Hymn — The  Giants,  and  How  to 
Fight  Them  — Tom  Watson— The 
Garden  ;  an  AUegory — The  Children's 
Island — Lost  and  Found;  or,  the 
Adopted  Daughter — Alice  Thorpe's 
Promise — Little  Nellie ;  or,  Patience 
Striving — Janet's  Boots — The  Little 
Sunbeam — Julia's  Mistake — The  Son 
of  the  Pyrenees — Little  Nettie ;  or. 
Home  Sunshine — Annie  and  Mary; 
or,  Pride  and  Humanity — The  Little 
Black  Hen  —  Maggie's  Christmas- 
Gertrude  and  Lily  ;  or,  Good  Eesolu- 
tions — The  Basket  of  Flowers — Robert 
Dawson  ;  or,  the  Brave  Spirit — Ruth 
Elmore ;  a  Tale  for  School  Girls — 
Kate  Darly  ;  It  Shall  Come  all  Right 
— Caroline  Eaton ;  or,  Little  Crosses 


824 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WORLD. 


— Timid  Lucy ;  or,  Trust  in  Provi- 
dence— Mary  Burns ;  or,  Life  at  a 
Farm — Little  Josey ;  or,  Try  and 
Succeed — Eicliard  Harvey  ;  or,  Tak- 
ing a  Stand — The  Young  Cottager — 
Pearls  for  Little  People — Great  Les- 
sons for  Little  People — Peasons  in 
Phyme — Grapes  from  the  Grape  Vine 
—The  Pot  of  Gold— Story  Pictures 
from  the  Bible — The  Tables  of  Stone 
— Ways  of  Doing  Good — Stories  about 
our  Dogs — The  Ped  Winged  Goose — 
The  Purple  Jar  and  other  Tales — 
Learning  Better  than  Houses  and 
Lands — Maud's  First  Visit  to  her 
Aunt — The  Dairyman's  Daughter — 
Pleasant  and  Profitable — The  Two 
School  Girls — The  Widow  and  her 
Daughter — The  Carpenter's  Daughter 
— Gertrude  and  her  Bible — A  Kiss  for 
a  Blow— The  Jewish  Twins— The 
Children  on  the  Plains — The  Christ- 
mas Story — Stories  of  Little  Boys — 
Stories  of  Little  Girls — Tales  for  the 
Young — The  Boy  Captive — The  Last 
Penny — Little  Henry  and  His  Bearer 
— Bright-eyed  Bessie — Blind  Alice — 
Story  of  a  Drop  of  Water — Hubert 
Lee — Egerton  Roscoe — Charles  Ha- 
milton— Negro  Servant — The  Lost 
Lamb  —  Flora  Mortimer  —  Simple 
Susan — Kate  Campbell — Better  than 
Gold — Faithful  Nicolette — Live  to  be 
Useful — Love  Thy  Neighbour  as  Thy- 
self— Power  of  Truth — Trust  in  God 
— The  Way  to  be  Happy — Wisdom's 
Ways  are  Pleasantness — Sunday  all 
the  Week — Sunny  Faces  :  Blessed 
Hands  —  Little  Kitty's  Knitting 
Needles — Sowing  and  Reaping — Annie 
Lyon  :  the  Secret  of  a  Happy  Home 
— The  One  Moss  Pose — Little  Alice's 
Palace — Freddy  and  His  Bible  Texts 
— The  Mountain  Daisy — Not  Easily 
Provoked — The  Head,  or  the  Heart — 
Ned,  the  Shepherd  Boy. 

838.  Books  at  Ninepence  Each. 

(Cloth,  gilt  edges).  Sabbath  Talks 
with  Little  Children — Sabbath  Talks 
with  Jesus — Ada  Brenton  ;  or,  Plans 
for  Life — Fanny  Lincoln — Cobwebs  to 
catch  Flies — Good  Habits  and  Good 
Manners — Home  Duties — Mr.  John- 
ston's School — The  Straight  Road — 


Crofton  Cousins — Home  Pleasures — 
The  Stitch  in  Time— Tales  for  Village 
Schools — Truth  ;  or,  Frank's  Choice 
— Ralph  Clavering — Example  Better 
than  Precept — How  the  New  Master 
Killed  the  Snake — Birds  of  a  Feather  ; 
or,  the  Two  Schoolboys — Edward  and 
Mary — The  Hive  and  its  Wonders — 
The  New  Scholar — Robert  Dawson — 
The  Valley  of  Decision — Cuff,  the 
Negro  Boy  —  Gregory  Krau — Mick 
and  Nick — The  Ericksons — Weaver  of 
Quelbrunn — Natalie  ;  or,  the  Broken 
Spring — History  of  Susan  Grey — The 
Foundling — Allen  White  :  the  Country 
Lad  in  Town — Bob,  the  Crossing 
Sweeper — Don't  Say  So — J  ohn  Philps ; 
or,  Happy  Homes — Buy  an  Orange, 
Sir  ? — Joseph  Martin  ;  or,  the  Hand 
of  the  Diligent  —  Margy  and  her 
Feather — Our  Village  Girls  —  Ruth 
Alan ;  or,  the  Two  Homes — William 
Freeman. 

839.  Books  at  One  Shilling  each, 
(Strongly  bound  in  cloth,  gilt).  Sun- 
day-school Annual.  Three  Series — 
Juvenile  Missionary  Herald  —  Half 
Hours  with  the  Little  Ones — Strive 
and  Thrive — Hope  on,  Hope  ever — 
Sowing  and  Reaping — Alice  Franklin 
— Who  shall  be  Greatest  ? — Which  is 
the  Wiser  ?— Little  Coin  Much  Care- 
Work  and  Wages — No  Sense  like 
Common  Sense — Love  and  Money — 
My  Uncle,  the  Clockmaker — The  Two 
Apprentices — My  Own  Story — Babes 
in  the  Basket — Pride  and  Principle — 
Mary  Elton  ;  or,  Self-Control. — Gates 
Ajar — The  Angel  of  the  Iceberg — The 
Children's  Harp  of  Select  Poetry — 
Naughty  Girl  Won  —  Theodora's 
Childhood— The  Little  Miner— Tom 
Butler's  Troubles — Charlie  Clemer  ; 
or,  the  Boy's  Friend — Master  Gre- 
gory's Cunning — Cockerill,  the  Con- 
juror— Jottings  from  the  Diary  of  the 
Sun — Down  among  the  Water  Weeds 
— The  Little  Captain— Gottfried  of 
the  Iron  Hand — Arthur  Fortescue  ; 
or,  the  Schoolboy  Hero — Alfred  and 
the  Little  Dove — MaryM'Neill;  or, 
the  Word  Remembered — Henry  Mor- 
gan ;  or,  the  Sower  and  the  Seed — 
The  Story  of  a  Ped  Velvet  Bible— 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


325 


Alice  Lowther — Nothing  to  Do  ;  or, 
the  Influence  of  a  Life — Witless  Wil- 
lie, the  Idiot  Boy — Mary  Mansfield  ; 
or,  No  Time  to  be  a  Christian — Frank 
Fielding  ;  or  Debts  and  Difficulties — 
Nineveh    and    its    Story  —  Nature's 
Wonders — Triumphs  of  Modern  Ar- 
chitecture— Triumphs  of  Ancient  Ar- 
chitecture— Curiosities  and  Wonders 
of  Nature  and  Art — Jewish  Twins — 
Kitty  Brown  Beginning  to  Think — 
Kitty  Brown  and  her  School — Kitty 
Brown  and  her  Bible  Verses — Kitty 
Brown  and  her  City  Cousins — Marvels 
of  Creation — Matty's  Hungry  Mission- 
ary Box — "  Our  Father  which  art  in 
Heaven '' — Pebbles  from  the  Sea-shore 
— Basket  of  Flowers — The  Blind  Far- 
mer— The  Boy  Artist — Children  on  the 
Plains — Cliflford   Family — King   Jack 
of   Haylands — Scenes   of   Wonder  in 
many  Lands — Curiosities   and   Won- 
ders  of     Nature   and    Art — Summer 
Days — Life  and  Travels  in  Tartary — 
Watch,  Work,  and  Wait — Wings  and 
Stings — Wonders   of     the   Vegetable 
World — Old  Humphrey's  Chapters  for 
Children — Old   Humphrey's   Country 
Tales  for  the  World— Rosa's   Child- 
hood— Basil ;  or,  Honesty  and  Indus- 
try— Ben  Holt's  Good  Name — Charlie 
Scott ;    or,   There's   Time   Enough — 
Harry    the    Whaler — Jessica's    First 
Prayer — Midshipman    in   China — My 
Brother  Ben — Harry,  the  Sailor  Boy — 
James's    Anxious    Inquii-er — James's 
Christian    Progress — James's    Young 
Man  from   Home — Mirage   of  Life — 
Missionary   Book    for    the    Young — 
Norah    and     her     Kerry    Cow — Old 
Humphrey's    Present   in   Prose — Old 
Humphrey's    Pleasant    Tales  —  Old 
Humphrey's  Tales  in  Rhyme,  for  Girls 
— Old  Humphrey's  Tales  in  Rhyme, 
for  Boys — Old  Humphrey's  Tales  for 
Young    Thinkers— Old    Humphrey's 
Lessons  Worth  Learning,  for  Boys — 
Old     Humphrey's     Lessons     Worth 
Learning,  for  Girls — Old  Humphrey's 
Little  Budget   for  little    Girls— The 
Snow  Storm — The  Weed  with  an  ill 
Name — Young  Folks  of  Hazlebrook — 
The  Cliflf  Hut— Marie  and  the  Seven 
Children — Keeper's  Travels  in  Search 
of  his  Master — Richmond's  Annals  of 


the  Poor — Illustrated  Child's  Poetry 
Book — The   Lost  Chamois  Hunter — 
Blanche  and  Agnes — Todd's  Lectures 
to    Children — Beechnut ;      a    Tale — 
Madeline  —  Wallace  ;    a  Tale  —  Ben 
Howard  ;    or,  Truth  and  Honesty — 
Bessie  and  Tom  ;  a  Book  for  Boys  and 
Girls — The  Brave  Boy — The  Pilgrim's 
Progress — Mr.  Rutherford's  Children 
— Storiesf  or  Week  Days  and  Sundays — 
Our  Charlie — Neighbourly  Love — The 
Little  Oxleys— The  Birthday  Visit— 
The  Story  of  a  Penny — Aunt  Maddy's 
Diamonds — The  Two  School  Girls — 
The  Widow  and  her  Daughter— Ger- 
trude and  her  Bible — The  Rose  in  the 
Desert— The  Little  Black  Hen— Ash- 
grove   Farm — The  Story  of  a  Dog — 
Minnie's  Legacy — Mother's  Lessons  on 
Kindness  to  Animals — The  Children's 
Party  at  Upland — Rainy  Davs,  and 
How  to  Meet  Them— The  Bible  Pat- 
tern  of  a  Good  Woman — The  Haunted 
House  —  The    Giants,    and  How  to 
Fight    Them  —  Cousin    Bessie  ;   or, 
Youthful  Earnestness — The  History 
of  a  Shilling — Wanderings  of  a  Bible 
— Toil  and  Trust — Tom  Burton;  or, 
the  Better  Way— Rachel;  or.  Little 
Faults  —  The    Governess  ;     or,    the 
Missing  Pencil  Case — Thoughts    for 
Young  Thinkers — Early  Duties   and 
Dangers — Effie    Maurice — Lucy    and 
her     Friends — Hugh     Nolan — Burtie 
Corey,    the    Fisher    Boy  —  Martha's 
Home — Four  Little  People  and  their 
Friends  —  Benj  amin    Franklin  —  The 
Perils  of  Greatness — Great  Riches — 
Daisy's  First  Winter— Elizabeth  ;  or, 
the  Exiles  of  Siberia — Little  Threads 
—  My    First    Concealment  —  Barton 
Todd  — Little    Crowns  — The   Right 
Way— The  Man  of  the  Mountains- 
Remote  and  Remarkable  Scenes  of 
Nature — Little  Amy's  Birthday. 

840.  Books  at  One  Shilling  and 
Sixpence  each.  (Cloth,  gilt). — 
Stories  from  English  History — Stories 
from  European  History — History  of  a, 
Pin — Stories  from  the  History  of  the 
Jews — Brother  Reginald's  Secret — 
Truth  is  Everything — The  Sunday 
Scholars'  Annual.  Three  Series. — 
Lives  of  Self-Taught  Men— Truth  is 


326 


SUNDAY  SCHOOL  WOELD. 


Always  Best — Story  of    a  Needle — 
The  King's  Highway — Under  the  Mi- 
croscope — Doctor    Kane,    the   Arctic 
Hero — The    Fisherman's    Children — 
Joseph    and    His    Brethren  —  Little 
Lily's    Travels  —  Little    Susy's    Six 
Birthdays  —  Natural  History  —  Old 
E.obin  and  His  Proverb — Parables  of 
our  Lord — Scenes  and  Sites  in  Bible 
Lands  —  Self -Taught    Men  —  Susy's 
Flowers  —  Tony    Starr's   Legacy  — 
Young  Crusoe — Biographies  of  Great 
Men — Book   of    Bible  Stories — Bible 
Difficulties  Explained — Stories  of  Old 
— Stories    of    the    Apostles  —  Short 
Tales  for  Sunday  Reading — The  Laird's 
Return — Short  Tales  for  Sunday  Read- 
ing— Truth   and    Falsehood — Patient 
Henry — Tales    for    the    Young — An 
Autumn  at  Karnford — Arnold  Lee — 
The  Douglas  Family— The  Torn  Bible 
— Christian  Conquests — Tales  of  the 
Parables — The     King's      Highway — 
The  Safe  Compass,  and  How  it  Points 
— Winning  Words — The  Wanderer  in 
Africa — Daily  Thoughts — The   Clare - 
mont   Tales — Short  Tales  to  Explain 
Homely  Proverbs— Short    Stories    to 
Explain    Bible    Texts— Bill    Marlin's 
Tales  of  the  Sea— The  Story  of  the 
Kirk — The   Hidden   Treasure — Little 
Tales  for  Little  People — Wise  Sayings, 
and  Stories  to  Explain  Them — Plea- 
sant Pages — The  Cottagers  of    Glan- 
carron  —  The    Royal    Captive  —  The 
King's    Dream — Lindsay    Lee — Quiet 
Talks — Holidays   at    Limewood — The 
Crofton  Boys—Feats  on  the  Fjords — 
A  Hero  ;  or,  Philip's  Book — Rose  and 
Kate ;  or,  the  Little   Howards — Max 
Frere  ;  or.  Return  Good  for  Evil — The 
Child's  First  Book  of  Natural  History 
— Little   Drummer  ;   or,   Filial  Affec- 
tion— Peasant  and   Prince — Story    of 
an    Apple  — Frank — The    Emigrant's 
Lost   Son — Everything  in    its    Right 
Place— The  Wild  Swans— Under  the 
WUlow  Tree— The  Old  Church  Bell— 
The   Ice  Maiden— The  WHl   o'  the 
Wisp — School  Days  at  Harrow — The 
Red  Shoes— The  Silver  Shilling— The 
Little     Match     Girl  — The    Darning 
Needle— The   Tinder    Box— The    Go- 
loshes of  Fortune — The  Marsh  King's 
Daughter — Grandmamma's  Spectacles 


— Hid  in  a  Cave — Little  Fables  for 
Little  Folks — Flora  Selwyn — Holidays 
at  Llandudno — The  Hop  Garden — Al- 
gy's  Lesson — Aunt  Margaret's  Maxims 
— Ashfield  Farm — Blind  Amos  and  His 
Velvet  Principles — Willy  Heath  and 
the  House  Rent  —  The  Mysterious 
Parchment — Family  Walking  Sticks 
— Holding's  Sunday  School  Hlustra- 
tions — Every-day  Lessons  —  Sketches 
from  My  Note-Book  —  The  Little 
Woodman  and  his  Dog  Caesar — Aunt 
Edith ;  or.  Love  to  God  the  best 
Motive  —  Susy's  Sacrifice  —  Kenneth 
Forbes — Clara  Stanley — The  Children 
of  Blackberry  Hollow — Herbert  Percy 
— Passing  Clouds  ;  or,  Love  Conquer- 
ing Evil — Daybreak  ;  or,  Right  Tri- 
umphant— Evelyn  Grey — The  History 
of  the  Goodlyn  Family — Donald  Era- 
ser—  Bessie  at  the  Seaside  —  Hard 
Maple— Our  School  Days— Aunt  Mil- 
dred's Legacy — Maggie  and  Bessie  and 
their  Way  to  do  Good — Grace  Bux- 
ton ;  or,  the  Light  of  Home ;  Little 
Katy  and  Jolly  Jim  —  Hamilton's 
Mount  of  Olives — A  Morning  beside 
the  Lake  of  Galilee — Life  in  Earnest — 
Thoughts  of  God— The  Young  Man-of- 
War's  Man — The  Treasury  of  Anec- 
dotes— The  Boy's  Own  Workshop — 
Unexpected  Pleasures — Little  Meg's 
Children — Child's  Book  of  Poetry — 
Dick  Bolter  ;  or.  Getting  on  in  Life — 
Down  in  a  Mine — Grace's  Visit — Jes- 
sie and  her  Friends — Lyntonville  ;  or, 
the  Irish  Boy  in  Canada — Richest  Man 
in  Todmorton — Tom  Tracy,  of  Brier 
HiU — Life's  Morning;  or,  Counsels 
for  the  Young — Peeps  at  Nature — 
Brother  and  Sister  —  The  Golden 
Mushroom — Johnny  M'Kay;  or,  the 
Sovereign  —  The  Lost  Key — Robert 
Dawson — My  Schoolboy  Days — Three 
Months  under  the  Snow — Young  En- 
velope Makers — The  Young  Man  set- 
ting out  in  Life  —  Mary  Brunton — 
Hymns  for  Infant  Minds — Childhood 
in  India — Girlhood — Home  Life — The 
Snow  Queen — John  Ploughman's  Talk. 

841.  Books  at  Two  Shillings 
eacll.  (Cloth,  gilt.)  — The  Wonder 
Book — Archie  Blake — Inez  and  Em- 
meline— Marooner's  Island— The  May- 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WORLD. 


327 


flower — Anecdotes  of  Dogs — Evenings 
at  Home — Sandford  and  Merton — 
Kobinson  Crusoe  —  Amy  Carlton  ; 
or,  First  Days  at  School — Conquest 
and  Self- Conquest  —  Cherrystones  — 
Glimpses  of  our  Island  Home — The 
Indian  Boy — The  Swiss  Family  Kobin- 
son ;  Ernie  Elton  at  Home — Ernie  El- 
ton at  School — Harry  and  his  Homes 
— Juvenile  Tales — Praise  and  Prin- 
ciple— Robert  and  Harold ;  or,  the 
Young  Marooners — The  First  of  June 
— Humility  —  Integrity  —  Decision — 
Keflection — The  Jordan  —  The  Boy 
Makes  the  Man— The  Valley  of  the 
Nile  —  Thoughtful  Hours  —  Quadru- 
peds :  What  they  Are,  and  Where 
Found — Round  the  World  —  Ruined 
Cities  of  the  East — Sorrowing  yet  Re- 
joicing— Home  Pictures  and  Lessons 
in  Life — Jerusalem  and  its  Environs — 
Little  Susy's  Little  Servants — Little 
Susy's  Six  Teachers — Marion's  Sun- 
days— Warm  Hearts  in  Cold  Regions 
— Words  of  Cheer  —  Flower  of  the 
Family — Kind  Words  Awaken  Kind 
Echoes — Old  Friends  with  New  Faces 
— Rambles  of  a  Rat — Seed  Time  and 
Harvest — Bogatsky's  Golden  Treasury 
—What  Shall  I  Be  ?— My  Neighbour's 
Shoes — Poetry  from  the  Best  Authors 
—  Mary  Elliot — Louie  Atterbury — 
Lucy  West ;  or,  the  Orphans,  &c. — 
Willis  the  Pilot — The  Judges  of  Israel 
— Heroism  in  the  Nineteenth  Century 
— Every  Saturday —  The  Silver  Cup — 
Biographies  of  the  Great  and  Good — 
Olive  Leaves — Enoch  Roden's  Train- 
ing— Tales  of  Discovery  and  Enter- 
prise— My  Brother's  Keeper — Pilgrim 
Street — Children  of  Cloverley — Com- 
panion to  the  Bible — Fern's  Hollow — 
Fishers  of  Derby  Haven  —  Lile's 
Battle  Lost  and  Won— Quiet  Thoughts 
for  Quiet  Hours — Hill  Side  Farm — 
The  Story  of  the  Hamiltons  —  The 
Little  Orphan — The  Boy  who  Won- 
dered —  Beatrice  Langton  —  Ralph 
Saunders — The  Blade  of  the  Ear — 
Great  Men  of  European  History — The 
Young  Men  of  the  Bible — The  Far 
North  —  Monarchs  of  Ocean — Life's 
Crosses  and  How  to  Meet  Them — The 
Cabinet  of  the  Earth  Unlocked  — 
Gleanings  from  the  Gospel  Story — Ann 


Ross  ;  or,  the  Orphan  of  Waterloo — 
Principles  and  Practice  —  Rosa  :  a 
Story  for  Girls — English  Hearts  and 
English  Hands. 

842.   Books    at     Half- a- Grown 

each.  (In  Cloth,  gilt. )— Emily  Ches- 
ter— Stories  of  Old  Daniel — Life  of 
Napoleon — Gilbert,  the  Adventurer — 
The  Lucky  Penny — Minnie  Raymond 
— The  Young  Artist — The  Pilgrim's 
Progress — Extraordinary  Men — Extra- 
ordinary Women  —  Foxe's  Book  of 
Martyrs — Heroes  of  the  Woi-kshop — 
The  Orbs  of  Heaven— The  Wide  Wide 
World— The  Lamplighter— The  Old 
Helmet  —  Queechy  —  Ellen  Mont- 
gomery's Book-shelf  —  Melbourne 
House — Adventures  of  a  Sailor  Boy — 
Tales  of  Filial  Love — Life  and  Its  Pur- 
poses— The  Elements  of  Success — 
Christian  Love  and  Loyalty — Gilfil- 
lan's  Martyrs  and  Heroes  of  the  Cove- 
nant— Simpson's  Traditions  of  the 
Covenanters — Ned  Franks ;  or,  the 
Christian  Panoply — The  Lake  of  the 
Woods  — Sheer  Off;  a  Tale— Two 
Years  of  School  Life — Christian  Chiv- 
alry— Birds  of  Prey — Eldon  Manor — 
Marian  and  her  Pupils — Lily  Gordon 
— Laura  and  Lucy  —  The  Huguenot 
Family  —  Wars  of  the  Roses  — 
First  Steps  in  the  Better  Path — 
Golden  Links — Sea  Fights.  From 
Alfred  to  Victoria  —  Land  Battles . 
From  Hastings  to  Inkerman — Far  and 
Near — Pictures  of  Natural  History- 
Ready  Work  for  Willing  Hands — 
Story  of  Four  Centuries  —  Sunday 
Chaplet  —  Travel  and  Adventure  — 
Triumphs  of  Invention  and  Discovery 
—  Whispering  Unseen  —  The  Golden 
Fleece — Gaussen's  World's  Birthday 
— The  Buried  Cities  of  Campania — 
The  Roby  Family ;  or.  Battling  with 
the  World — The  Mine  ;  or,  Darkness 
and  Light  —  Anna  Lee  —  Holiday 
Chaplet — Miracles  of  Heavenly  Love 
—Old  Gems  Re-Set— True  Riches; 
or.  Wealth  without  Wings — Crown  of 
Success — Rosa  Lindesay,  the  Light 
of  Kilmain  — •  Newlyn  House,  the 
Home  of  the  Davenports  —  Alice 
Thorne;   or,    a  Sister's  Work  —  La- 


328 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


bourers  in  the  Vineyard — The  Chil- 
dren of  the  Great  King  —  Little 
Harry's  Troubles  —  Si\nday  School 
Photographs — Noble  Rivers,  and  Sto- 
ries concerning  them — The  Wood- 
fords — Memorable  AVars  of  Scotland 
— Seeing  the  World — My  New  Home 
—  Home  Heroines  —  Lessons  from 
Women's  Lives — Busy  Hands  and 
Patient  Hearts — Queer  Discourses  on 
Queer  Proverbs — Fireside  Chats  with 
the  Youngsters — Told  in  the  Twilight . 
Short  Stories — Washed  Ashore — Old 
Merrj^'s  Travels  on  the  Continent — 
Peconciled ;  or,  Story  of  Hawshaw 
Hall — Benaiah ;  a  Tale  of  the  Cap- 
ti\aty — Pits  and  Furnaces — The  Con- 
tributions of  Q.  Q. — The  Butterfly's 
Gospel — Ministering  Children — Boars, 
Bears,  and  Bulls — Sequel  to  Minis- 
tering Children — The  Washerwoman's 
Foundling — Edwin's  Fairing — A  Boy's 
Adventures  in  Australia — Eda  Mor- 
ton and  her  Cousins — The  Knight's  of 
the  Red  Cross— The  Piety  of  Early 
Life — Pathway  of  SafetJ^ 

843.  Books  at    Three   Shillings 

Each. — (Cloth,  gilt).  Young  Fur- 
Traders  —  World  of  Ice  —  War  and 
Peace — Ungava.  A  Tale  of  Esqui- 
maux Land — The  Story  of  the  White- 
Rock  Cove  —  Martin  Rattler  —  The 
Gorilla  Hunters  —  Golden  Fountain 
— Earthquakes  and  Volcanoes — The 
Dog  Crusoe  and  his  Master  —  The 
Coral  Island — Days  at  Seadown  — The 
Child's  Gospel — British  Enterprise — 
Father's  Coming  Home — Natural  His- 
torj^ — Patience  to  Work  and  Patience 
to  Wait— The  Silver  Casket— The 
Swiss  Family  Robinson — Success  in 
Life  :  A  Book  for  Young  Men — Men 
who  were  Earnest — Noble  Traits  of 
Kingly  Men — Story  of  a  Boy's  Ad- 
ventures— Noble  Dames  of  Ancient 
Story — Horace  Hazel  wood  ;  or,  Little 
Things — Rosa  Lindesay,  the  Light  of 
Kilmain — Newlj^n  House,  the  Home 
of  the  Davenports — Alice  Thorne  ;  or, 
a  Sister's  Work — Labourer's  in  the 
Vineyard —Little  Harry's  Troubles — 
The  Children  of  the  Great  King — 
Sunday  School  Photographs — Select 
Christian    Biographies  —  The    White 


Roe    of    Glenmere — The    Harleys   of 
Chelsea  Place — Violet  and  Daisy. 

844.  Books  at  Three  Shillings 
and  Sixpence  Each. — (Cloth,  gilt). 
Lessons  on  the  Life  of  Christ — House 
Beautiful ;  or,  the  Bible  Museum — 
The  Great  Architect— The  Dark  Year 
of  Dundee— Cats  and  Dogs — Records 
of  Noble  Lives — The  Plants  of  the 
Bible — On  the  Way — Living  to  Pur- 
pose —  Hebrew  Heroes  —  Claudia  — 
Present  for  Boys  and  Young  Men — 
The  Golden  Missionary  Penny  — 
Above  Rubies — Beauties  of  jNIodem 
British  Poetry — Beavities  of  Modern 
Sacred  Poetry — Christian  Character — 
Evenings  with  the  Poets — Exiles  in 
Babylon — The  Lives  of  Great  Mis- 
sionaries— Lives  made  Sublime  by 
Faith  and  Works — Li^dng  in  Earnest 
— Merchant  Enterprise — Missionary 
Evenings  at  Home  —  Pathways  and 
Abiding  Places  of  our  Lord — Perils 
and  Adventures  on  the  Deep — Res- 
cued from  Egypt — Tales  of  Heroes — 
Triumph  over  Midian — Village  Mis- 
sionaries—  Youthful  Diligence  and 
Future  Greatness — Heroines  of  Our 
Own  Time — Doing  Good — Jerusalem 
and  its  Environs— Precepts  in  Prac- 
tice— The  World  of  Ice — Triumphs  of 
Invention  and  Discovery — Incidents 
in  the  Lives  of  Naturalists — Pride 
and  his  Prisoners — Annals  of  Industry 
and  Genius — The  Early  Choice — 
Daisy — Silver  Lake — Daisy  in  the 
Field— Ralph  Luttrell— Stories  of  Old 
—The  Three  Little  Spades— Golden 
Ladder — Melbourne  House— The  Old 
Helmet — The  Word ;  or,  Walks  from 
Eden  — The  Word:  The  House  of 
Israel — Bunyan's  Pilgrim's  Progress 
— Bunyan's  Holy  War — Hope  Camp- 
bell— Robinson  Crusoe — Willis  the 
Pilot — The  Encombe  Stories — Ellen 
Montgomery's  Book- shelf  —  Boys  of 
Holy  Writ,  and  Bible  Narratives — 
Female  Characters  of  Holy  Writ — 
Queechy — ^  History  of  Sandford  and 
Merton — Derry  :  a  Tale  of  the  Revo- 
lution— Zenobia — Julian — Rome  and 
the  Early  Christians — The  Boy  Fores- 
ters —  The  Doctor's  Ward  —  Will 
Adams — Tom    Duneton'a  Troubles — 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOULD. 


329 


Fred  and  the  Gorillas — The  Young 
Marooners — Corn  Seed — Seven  "Won- 
ders of  the  World — Romance  of  Ad- 
venture— Heroism  of  Boj^hood — Sto- 
ries and  Studies  of  English  History — 
Boys  at  Home  —  The  Castaways  — 
Celebrated  Children  of  All  Ages  and 
Nations — Dawnings  of  Genius — Edgar 
Clifton;  or,  Eight  and  Wrong — ^Espe- 
ranza ;  or,  the  Home  of  the  Wan- 
derers— Footprints  of  Famous  Men — 
The  Four  Sisters — The  Heroines  of 
History  —  j\Iy  Feathered  Friends — The 
Young  Exiles  —  The  Swiss  Family 
Robinson — The  Boy's  Own  Book  of 
Natural  History  —  Heroines  of  Do- 
mestic Life — Historj^  for  Boys — The 
Golden  Rule — The  Lamplighter — The 
Wide  Wide  World — Hawker's  Morn- 
ing and  Evening  Portion — Anecdotes 
of  Animal  Life — Evenings  at  Home — 
Animal  Traits  and  Characteristics — 
Kangaroo  Hunters — School-boy  Hon- 
our— Dogs  and  their  Ways  -  George 
Stanley  —  Dashwood  Priory  —  Boy 
Voyagers — Saxelford — Tom  and  the 
Crocodiles  —  Johnny  Jordan  —  Ernie 
Elton,  at  Home  and  at  School — Chil- 
dren of  Blessing — Boys  of  Beechwood 
— The  Boyhood  of  Great  Men — Louis's 
School-days — Tales  of  Carlton  School 
— Heaven  our  Home — ISIeet  for  Hea- 
ven— Life  in  Heaven — Christ's  Trans- 
figuration— Ben  j  amin  Franklin — Wal- 
lace, the  Hero  of  Scotland  —  The 
Mirror  of  Character — ^len  of  History 
—Old  World  Worthies— Women  of 
History — A  Book  about  Boys — Chap- 
ters in  the  Life  of  Elsie  Ellis — Nettie's 
Mission — Sketches  of  Scripture  Cha- 
racters—  Watchers  for  the  Dawn — 
Famous  London  Merchants  —  Aunt 
Agnes  —  Holiday  Adventures  —  Pio- 
neers of  Civilisation — Path  on  Earth 
to  the  Gate  of  Heaven — Men  who 
have  Risen  —  Pictures  of  Heroes, 
Lessons  from  their  Lives — The  Pil- 
grim in  the  Holy  Land — The  Sea  and 
her  Famous  Sailors — Small  Begin- 
nings— Women  of  Worth — The  Busy 
Hives  around  Us — The  Printer's  Boy 
— Friendly  Hands  and  Kindly  Words 
— Roses  and  Thorns — The  Missionary 
in  Many  Lands — The  Story  of  a  Boy's 
Adventures — Men  who  were  Earnest 


— The  Art  of  Doing  our  Best — The 
Steady  Aim — Our  Untitled  Nobility 
— Links  in  the  Chain — The  j\Ien  at 
the  Helm — The  Star  of  Hope  and  the 
Staff  of  Duty — Noble  Traits  of  Kingly 
Men — Pallisy  the  Potter — Working 
Women  of  this  Century— Our  Exem- 
plars, Rich  and  Poor — On  a  Coral 
Reef — Landel's  Young  Man  in  the 
Battle  of  Life — Stories  from  Germany 
— The  Weaver  Boy  who  became  a 
Missionary — With  the  Tide — Prince 
of  the  House  of  David — Lost  in  Paris 
— Tossed  on  the  Waves — The  Trea- 
sures of  the  Earth — How  do  I  Know  ? 
— Famous  Ships  of  the  British  Navy 
—The  Pirate's  Treasure — Harry  Hep- 
worth  —  The  Franconian  Stones  — 
Little  Estie  —  Longfellow's  Poetical 
Works  —  Scott's  Poetical  Works  — 
Moore's  Poetical  Works  —  Words- 
worth's Poetical  Works  —  Cowper's 
Poetical  Works  —  Milton's  Poetical 
Works — The  Casket  of  Gems — Lives 
of  the  British  Poets  —  Epoch  Men, 
and  the  Results  of  their  Lives  -Tales 
of  Old  English  Life  —  Heroines  of 
Missionary  Enterprise  —  Ministering 
Men — Mii'acles  of  Nature  and  Mar- 
vels of  Art — Adventures  of  Remark- 
able Men — Six  Steps  to  Honour  — 
Notable  Women — Celebrated  Women 
— Women  of  the  Reformation — Wo- 
men of  Scripture  —  Life  of  General 
Havelock  —  Memorials  of  Captain 
Vicars  —  The  Young  Man's  Guide 
Through  Life. 

845.  Books   at    Four   Shillings 

Eacll. — (Cloth,  gilt).  Annals  of  In- 
dustry and  Genius — The  Giant  Killer  ; 
or,  the  Battle  that  all  must  Fight — 
The  Young  Pilgrim — Young  Woman's 
Guide  through  Life — Davis's  Ruins, 
or  Bible  Cities— The  Girl's  Birthday 
Book — Illustrated  Boy's  own  Story 
Book — Carpenter's  Readings.  5  Vols. 
Each  4s. 

846.  Books  at  live  Shillings 
Eacll. —  (Cloth,  gilt).  Shepherd  of 
Bethlehem — The  Forest,  the  Jungle, 
and  the  Prairie — Pictures  from  Sicily 
— Kane's   Arctic    Regions, —  Life    of 


330 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


Rev.  Thomas  Collins — Josephus'  Com- 
plete Works — Maury's  Physical  Geo- 
graphy of  the  Sea — My  First  Voyage 
to  Southern  Seas — The  Plant  World 
— Round  the  World — Old  Jack — Gil- 
fillan's  Modern  Christian  Heroes — A 
History  of    Wonderful   Inventions — 
Female  Sovereigns — Stories   of    Ani- 
mals— The  Boy's  own  Covmtry  Book 
—The  Throne  of  David— The  Prince 
of -the  House  of  David — Great  Battles 
of    the    British    Army — Tales     upon 
Texts— The  Pillar  of  Fire— Illustrated 
Girl's    Own   Treasury  —  Among    the 
Squirrels — Queens  of  Society — Studies 
for  Stones  —  Digby  Heathcote — Bar- 
ford  Bridge — Lillian's  Golden   Hours 
— The  Peasant  Boy  Philosopher — The 
Wonders  of  Science — Our  Four- Footed 
Friends — Clever  Dogs   and  Horses — 
Jack     the    Conqueror  —  Our    Dumb 
Neighbours — The  Intelligence  of  Ani- 
mals— Animal  Sagacity  —  Our   Chil- 
dren's Pets — A  Life's  Motto— Papers 
for  Thoughtful  Girls — Citoyenne  Jac- 
queline— Days  of  Yore — Girlhood  and 
Womanhood — The    Diamond  Rose — 
Beeton's   Annual  —  A    Sister's   Bye- 
Hours  —  The   Magic    Mirror- — Oliver 
Wyndham :     a    Tale    of    the    Great 
Plague — Old    Merry's    Annual — The 
Beggars ;    or,    the    Founders    of  the 
Dutch    Republic  —  Sea    Fights    and 
Land  Battles — May  and  her  Friends 
— The    E very-day   Book  of    Natural 
History — Tales  of  Woman's  Trials — 
Sketches  of    Scripture   Characters — 
Stars  of  the  Earth — JEsop's  Fables — 
The  Children's   Hour  Annual — Half- 
Hours  of   English  History — Shifting 
Winds — Deep   Down  —  Fighting  the 
Flames  —  Tales    from    Alsace  —  My 
Schools     and     Schoolmasters  —  The 
Cruise  of  the  Betsy — Scenes  and  Le- 
gends of  the  North  of  Scotland — The 
Old  Red  Sandstone — Tale  and  Sketches 
— Sword   and  Pen — Stories  of  School 
Life — Norrie     Seton  ;    or,    Driven  to 
Sea — Tales   of    the   Scottish  Wars — 
The  Yoimg  Shetlander — The  Braemer 
Highlands— Robinson  Crusoe — Agui- 
lar's  Home  Influence — Aguilar'sHome 
Scenes  and  Heart  Studies— Aguilar's 
Vale   of  Cedars — John  Halifax,  Gen- 
tleman— Alec  Forbes  —  Glimpses    of 


Ocean  Life — The  Rocky  Island,  and 
other  Similitudes — Children  at  Home 
— Ministering  Children — A  Sequel  to 
Ministering  Children — Sunday  Echoes 
in  Week-day  Hours — England's  Yeo- 
men— Broad  Shadows  on  Life's  Path- 
way— Home  Memories  —  Margaret's 
Secret,  and  its  Success — Chapters  on 
Flowers — Mrs.  Geldart's  First  Steps 
in  Life — Harry  Lawton's  Adventures 
— Lending  a  Hand — MiUicent  Leigh 
— Perils  among  the  Heathen — The 
Knights  of  the  Frozen  Sea — The 
Warringtons  Abroad — Onward  ;  or, 
the  Mountain  Climbers — Working  and 
Waiting  :  a  Tale — Judah's  Lion — 
English  Hearts  and  English  Hands — 
Tom  Brown's  School  Days— The  Story 
of  the  Reformation — The  Book  of 
Trades  —  Last  Words  of  Eminent 
Persons. 

847.  Books  at  Six  Shillings.— 
(Cloth,  gilt).  Orville  College— Every 
Boy's  Annual — The  Play  Book  of 
Science — The  Playbook  of  Metals — 
Wood's  Illustrated  Natural  History 
— The  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic — 
Bartlett's  Pilgrim  Fathers — Bartlett's 
Jerusalem  Re  visited — Bartlett's  Glean- 
ings on  Overland  Route — Josephus — 
The  World  at  Home -Self -help— In- 
dustrial Biography — Brindley  and  the 
Early  Engineers  —  Life  of  Robert 
Stephenson — Livingstone's  Travels — 
Annals  of  a  Quiet  Neighbourhood — 
Sea-board  Parish — Varia  ;  or.  Read- 
ings from  Rare  Books — The  Silent 
Hour  —  Other  People's  Windows — 
The  Gentle  Life — About  in  the  World 
— Familiar  Words — Stories  of  School 
Life — Wayside  Thoughts  of  a  Pro- 
fessor— Constance  Aylmer  — Lessons 
from  the  Life  of  Jonah — Bible  Teach- 
ings from  Nature — Holidays  in  High 
Lands— The  Heir  of  Redclyffe— The 
Daisy  Chain — Old  Paths  of  Honour 
and  Dishonour. 

848.  Books  at  Six  Shillings  and 

Sixpence. — (Cloth,  gilt).  Helena's 
Household — Chronicles  of  the  Schon- 
berg  Cotta  Family — Diary  of  Kitty 
Trevyllian — The    Drayton's   and   the 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


331 


Davenants — Wanderings  over  Bible 
Lands  and  Seas — Both  Sides  of  the 
Sea — Winifred  Bertram — Sketches  of 
Christian  Life  in  England — Watch- 
words for  the  Warfare  of  Life — The 
Days  of  Knox — Hodge's  Outlines  of 
Theology — Memories  of  Olivet — Me- 
moirs of  Gennesaret — Sunset  on  the 
Hebrew  Mountains — The  Prophet  of 
Fire — The  Shepherd  and  His  Flock. 

849.  Books  at  Seven  SMllings 
and  Sixpence. — (Cloth,  gilt).  Arnot 
on  the  Parables  —  Pyle's  Christian 
Leaders  of  Last  Century — The  Land 
-and  the  Book — Gall's  Interpreting 
Concordance — The  Bible  Text  Cyclo- 
paedia— Kitto's  Bible  History  of  the 
Holy  Land — Miller's  English  Country 
Life — Raleigh's  Quiet  Kesting  Place — 
Eadie's  Biblical  Dictionary — Naomi — 
Cruden's  Concordance.  Coinplete  Edi- 
tion— Hogg  on  the  Microscope — Homes 
and  Haunts  of  the  Poets — Good  Words; 
the  Annual  Volume  —  Goldsmith's 
Works — The  Home  Book — Pen  and 
Pencil  Pictures — Gems  of  Literature 
— Poses  and  Holly  —  Longfellow's 
Poetical  Works — Legendary  Ballads 
of  England  and  Scotland  —  Scott's 
Poetical  Works — Poets  of  the  Nine- 
teenth Century — The  Golden  Gift — 
The  Book  of  Elegant  Extracts -The 
Holy  War — The  Pilgrim's  Progress — 
The  Giant  Cities  of  Bashan — Tom 
Hood's  Penny  Readings — Laws  from 
Heaven  for  Life  on  Earth. 

850.  Infants' Library. — In  order, 
however,  that  the  infants'  library  may 
be  thus  useful,  some  care  must  be 
taken  in  the  selection  of  the  books. 
A  book  is  not  necessarily  suited  to 
this  purpose  because  it  is  a  small 
book,  or  because  it  has  pretty  pictures 
or  a  showy  exterior,  or  because  it 
abounds  in  that  stuff,  equally  nau- 
seous to  children  and  to  grown  folks, 
usually  called  ''baby-talk."  The 
point  needed,  in  order  to  interest  the 
children,  is  that  the  matter  itself  be 
really  interesting,  and  then  that  it 
be  simple.  But  this  simplicity  is  in 
no  way  dependent  on  that  ridiculous 


and  abominable  jargon  which  has 
been  referred  to.  Too  many  of  the 
so-called  "  Libraries,"  whether  for 
the  infants  or  for  older  childi-en,  are 
mere  receptacles  for  rubbish  that 
could  not  otherwise  be  disposed  of. 
These  "Libraries"  always  contain 
some  good  books.  But  for  every  real 
good,  live  book  thus  put  into  uniform 
binding  in  order  to  make  a ' '  Library," 
the  credulous  purchaser  usually  has 
thrust  upon  ham  at  least  two  that 
are  of  no  conceivable  use  except  to 
fill  out  the  complement  of  volumes 
needed.  In  purchasing  books  for  any 
Idnd  of  library,  beware  of  this  mis- 
chievous idea  of  uniformity  of  size 
and  binding.  Buy  a  good  book — . 
that  is,  a  book  with  the  right  kind 
of  reading  in  it — wherever  you  can 
find  it,  and  whatever  its  shape  or 
colour,  or  style  of  binding,  only 
avoiding  styles  that  are  unusually 
expensive,  or  that  otherwise  have 
something  positively  objectionable. 
Many  a  library  has  been  killed  by 
the  ridiculous  desire  to  have  its 
shelves  look  like  a  smooth,  rectangular 
piece  of  brick-work.  Children  shrink 
instinctively  from  these  prim,  fault- 
less specimens  of  book  -  binders' 
cabinet-work.  They  know  too  well 
that  there  is  not  the  place  to  look  for 
pretty  stories.  I  repeat,  then,  if  the 
superintendent  of  an  infant-school 
expects  to  accomplish  much  by  his 
library,  he  must  first  take  some  pains 
in  the  selection  of  his  books.  Seventy- 
five  or  a  hundred  volumes,  each 
chosen  intelligently,  because  of  its  own 
independent  merits,  are  worth  more 
than  a  thousand  volumes  collected 
by  the  usual  "  omnium-gatherum " 
process.  Among  the  thousand  there 
may  be,  and  probably  are,  more  than 
a  hundred  that  are  really  good.  But 
the  children  in  the  infant-school 
have  no  power  of  choice,  and  have 
to  take  the  books  just  as  they  come, 
good,  bad,  or  indifterent.  It  is 
therefore  doubly  needful  to  see  that 


832 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


no  book  finds  its  way  into  this 
collection  which  will  not  reward 
the  expectant  little  one  that  fondly 
takes  it  home  in  the  hope  of  a  treat. 
—Dr,  Hart. 

851.  Books  for  Home  Eeading. 
— Knowing  the  habits  of  the  family, 
yon  can  aid  the  child  in  selecting 
such  books  as  will  be  useful  at  home, 
and  encourage  him  to  read,  or  to 
have  them  read  at  home.  If  you 
can  once  gain  the  confidence  of  the 
child,  the  way  is  open,  and  it  will  be 
easy  to  gain  the  confidence  of  the 
parents  ;  and  when  that  is  gained,  it 
will  add  to  your  former  influence 
over  the  child.  A  physician  once 
said  to  me,  that  he  had  a  patient  in 
whose  cure  he  could  make  no  progress. 
Every  visit  found  him  in  a  new  con- 
dition, and  with  new  symptoms. 
Every  medicine  prescribed  seemed 
to  work  by  a  new  and  unheard-of 
rule.  At  length  the  physician  set 
himself  to  work  to  find  out  the 
difficulty.  It  was  this:  the  mother 
of  the  patient  took  it  into  her  head 
that  the  prescriptions  of  the  phy- 
sician were  too  powerful  for  the 
constitution  of  her  child,  and  in  order 
to  counteract  their  mischievous  ten- 
dency, she  gave  some  powerful 
nostrum  soon  after  taking  the 
medicine,  as  an  antidote.  It  is  just 
so  with  many  children.  Their 
parents  are  constantly  neutralising 
aU  that  you  do  on  the  Sabbath.  The 
evil  can  be  met  and  removed  only 
by  your  visiting  the  family.  I  woidd 
recommend  that  you  visit,  regularly 
once  a  month,  every  child  in  your 
class,  even  if  your  call  is  but  short. 
It  should  make  no  difference  with 
you  whether  the  parents  are  rich  or 
poor,  high  or  low.  All  who  are 
willing  to  commit  their  children  to 
you  will  be  glad  to  see  you,  and  will 
be  grateful  for  the  interest  you  take 
in  the  welfare  of  their  children. — 
Todd. 


852.  Books  for  Juniors. — ^I  hold 
it  to  be  even  more  important  for  the 
infant- scholars  to  take  home  a  library- 
book,  than  for  the  older  scholars  to 
do  so.  A  book  taken  by  an  older 
scholar  is  usually  read  in  silence,  and 
read  by  him  alone.  But  the  book 
taken  by  the  infant- scholar  is  carried 
to  the  father  or  mother,  or  to  some 
other  member  of  the  family,  to  be 
read  aloud  to  the  little  one.  Often, 
indeed,  on  the  Sabbath  evening, 
especially  in  the  poorer  class  of 
families,  the  father  takes  the  little 
one  on  his  knee  and  reads  aloud  to 
him  the  tiny  volume  brought  from 
the  school.  Not  only  the  father  and 
the  child  thus  get  the  benefit  of  its 
teachings,  but  frequently  the  whole 
family  group  cluster  around  in  wrapt 
attention,  and  drink  in  its  precious 
trutlis.  Moreover,  the  truths  thus 
simplified  and  brought  down  to  the 
capacity  of  a  child,  often  have  a 
strange  power  over  the  feelings  and 
consciences  of  adults,  beyond  that  of 
truth  presented  in  the  ordinary  way. 
There  are  on  record  numerous  in- 
stances of  persons  who  had  grown 
old  in  impenitence,  being  brought  to 
serious  reflection  by  reading  children's 
books  and  papers.  That  class  of 
people  whose  children  chiefly  fill  our 
mission- schools,  are  often  interested 
in  religious  subjects  by  means  of  the 
books  brought  home  by  their  chil- 
dren, particularly  by  those  brought 
by  the  young  children  who  cannot 
read,  and  whose  books  must  be  read 
to  them. — Dr.  Hart. 

853.  Of  Eeading.  —  Were  we 
asked  to  name  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant influences  that  can  affect  the 
complex  machinery  of  the  brain,  or 
mould  the  character  of  the  mind  for 
good  or  e\al,  we  should  reply — 
reading.  And  this  because  we  are 
fully  convinced  that  its  subtle  power 
over  our  moral  and  intellectual 
natures  is  beyond  the  power  of  cal- 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WORLD. 


333 


CTilation.  Memory,  that  mystery  of 
mysteries,  never  fathomed  because 
unfathomable,  is  ever  reproducing  in 
endless  variet}'  all  that  has  passed 
into  the  brain  through  this  medium 
by  the  instrumentality  of  books. 
Too  often,  however,  does  it  happen 
that  the  good  loses  its  hold  but  too 
quickly,  whilst  the  evil  is  retained 
tenaciously,  and  endlessly  recurs  in 
thought.  Our  sinful  natures  are 
prone  to  assimilate  the  evil  im- 
pressions produced  by  reading, 
rather  than  the  beneficial,  which 
pass  but  too  rapidly  away.  And  it 
is  because  we  feel  that  so  much  of 
the  evil  that  is  in  us  is  due  to  the 
influence  of  reading,  and  is  yet  so 
little  realised  or  considered  to  be 
thus  introduced  to  the  mind,  that  we 
have  selected  the  subject  for  an 
essay  addressed  to  Sunday-school 
teachers.  They  surely,  of  all  classes, 
need  to  be  most  watchful  regarding 
what  they  read,  since  upon  the 
healthy  tone  of  their  minds  must  of 
necessity  depend  so  much  of  the 
good  effects  resulting  from  their 
teaching.  Reading,  therefore,  is 
especially  an  important  subject  to 
teachers,  and  as  such  we  solicit  their 
attention  to  a  few  "thoughts"  there- 
upon. 

The  most  casual  observer  must 
often  be  struck  by  the  fact  that  great 
variety  exists  amongst  his  fellow- 
men  as  to  the  methods  of  reading. 
This,  at  first  sight,  might  seem  a 
trivial  and  unimportant  matter  ;  but 
on  consideration  we  think  other- 
wise. To  read  in  a  state  of  true  and 
perfect  intellectual  enjoyment  we 
firmly  believe  that  solitude  is  neces- 
sary. Buzz  of  conversation  or  of 
company,  distracting  influences  of 
what  kind  soever,  must  of  necessity 
divide  the  attention  of  the  reader 
between  his  book  and  other  objects. 
Probably,  nay  likely,  this  remark 
will  hardly  apply  to  "  light  readiug." 
This  we  can  quite  understand.     But 


to  reading  that  has  a  didactic  object 
in  view,  reading  which  promises 
something  more  than  amusement  for 
a  leisure  hour,  it  does  apply ;  and 
such  classes  of  reading,  to  be  fully 
appreciated,  and  to  prove  beneficial, 
ought  to  be  perused  whilst  the  reader 
is  in  a  state  of  ease  and  solitude, 
with  nought  to  distract  the  thoughts 
from  the  subject  or  subjects  in. 
hand. 

However,  whilst  such  briefly  is 
our  opinion  with  regard  to  the  man- 
ner of  reading,  it  wiU.  be  very  obvious 
to  the  reader  that  many  others  do 
not  concur  therein.  We  have  only  to 
walk  through  the  streets  of  any  of  our 
large  towns,  to  travel,  or  visit  some 
public  institution,  to  become  assured 
of  the  fact  that  some  at  least  do  not 
consider  rest  and  solitude  as  at  all 
essential  to  enjoyable — nay,  even  to 
beneficial — reading.  Often  are  we 
amused  by  seeing  individuals  hurry- 
ing through  the  streets  book  in  hand, 
and,  by  a  sort  of  intuitive  knowledge 
of  coming  objects,  moving  fi'om  side 
to  side  to  evade  by-passers  and 
vehicles.  At  such  times  we  are 
irresistibly  reminded  of  a  line  of 
Pope's,  addressed  satirically  to  some 
such  person,  in  which  he  cautions 
him  that 

"  A  nodding  beam  may  chance  to  spoil  a 
thought ; " 

and  often  do  we  wonder  that  street- 
walking  readers  do  not  meet  with 
similar  interruptions  to  that  imagined 
by  the  poet.  We  have  been  struck 
by  the  fact  that  those  whom  one 
sees  reading  in  aU  imaginable  places 
and  at  all  unseasonable  times  gene- 
rally hold  a  volume  with  the  suspicious 
papery  covering  of  novel  and  sen- 
sational literature,  giving  us  at 
once  an  index  to  the  enthralling 
power  which  it  seems  to  wield  over 
the  reader. 

And  this  insensibly  leads  us  to 
the  subject  of  fiction.  A  few  re- 
marks on  it,  as  relating  to  Sunday- 


334 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


school  teachers,  will  be  necessary  at 
this    point.     Should    teachers    read 
fiction  ?    We  think  that  within  cer- 
tain  limits   they  undoubtedly  may, 
and  indeed  ought  to  do  so.    But  what, 
it  is  asked,  are  these  limits  ?    Where 
is  the   line    dividing    commendable 
fiction    from    objectionable  ?     What 
the  criterion  for  deciding  what  is 
fit  for  reading,  and  what  only  for 
rejection  ?     Truly    important    ques- 
tions these.     Yet  we  imagine  that 
the  heart  attuned  aright,  the  mind 
that  loves  to  linger  over  the  sacred 
pages  of  the  Word  of  Grod,  will  not 
err  much  in  its  selection.     Fiction 
which,    without    partaking    of  the 
sensational    element,    is  merely   an 
allegorical  mode  of  inculcating  good 
truths   and  a  pleasant  way   of  in- 
creasing our  knowledge,  cannot  be 
objectionable  unless  read  to  excess, 
when  its  efifects  on  the  mind  must  be 
weakening.     But  what  shall  we  say 
of  the  harmful  sensational  literature 
so  abundant,  of  the  armj^  of  trashy 
novels,  and  of  the  tales  which  swarm 
in  the  magazines  of  our  day  ?   Truly 
such    literature,    pandering  to   our 
lowest  appetites,  is  but  a  powerful 
agency  for  deteriorating  the  youthful 
mind.     Shun  it,   teachers ;    for  be 
assured  that  its  evil  effects  are  be- 
yond   the    power    of    computation. 
Let  us   emphatically  say    that    no 
conscientious  reader,  when  once  fully 
aware  of  the  extent  of  evil  lurking 
subtly     within     these     pleasurable 
works,  will  ever  be  led  to  delight  in 
their  perusal.     And  yet  we  fear  that 
too  many  of  those  that  teach  our 
little  ones  in  the  things  of  God  are 
addicted  to  such  reading.     In  fact, 
the  popular  taste  is  so  decidedly  de- 
praved that  one  is  considered  quite 
out  of  date,  a  kind  of  antediluvian 
relic,  if  not  well   acquainted  with 
the  leading  fiction  writers  of   the 
time,  and  it  requires  some  moral  ef- 
fort to  withstand  the  tide  of  sensa- 
tional reading  that  fiows  ia  upon  ns. 


But  we  feel  sure  that  Sunday-school 
teachers  should  make  that  efibrt ; 
for,  giving  way  to  such  influences, 
they  can  hardly  hope  to  benefit  those 
placed  under  their  care.  Teachers, 
avoid,  we  beseech  you,  the  pernicious 
though  tempting  pleasures  of  novel- 
reading,  both  for  your  own  sakes  and 
for  the  sake  of  those  whom  you  pro- 
fess to  train  up  in  all  that  is  good^ 
noble,  and  pure. 

A  word,  however,  regarding  quan- 
tity of  reading.    We  are  not  of  those 
who  uphold  what  is  termed  * '  book 
devouring,"  or,  to  speak  plainly,  an 
inordinate    desire   for  new  books  to 
any  extent  imaginable.     We  are  of 
opinion  that  the  many  are  not  at  all 
bettered  by  the  quantity  of  reading 
they  manage  to  get  through.     De- 
pend upon  it,  far  greater  importance 
lies  in  the  quality  than  in  the  quan- 
tity of  the  books  perused.     The  fact 
of  a  person  having  read  an  immense 
number  of  works  does  not  render  it 
certain  that  a  commensurate  amount 
of  knowledge  has  been  attained.    On 
the  contrary,  it  very  frequently  hap- 
pens that  those  who  read  with  such 
astonishing  rapidity  are  as  ignorant 
of  the  real  design  and  drift  of  a  book 
when   they   lay  it   down   as   before 
perusing  it.     Fast  reading  is  a  mis- 
take.    To  fully  master  the  sense  of 
any  work  in  which  thought  has  been 
exercised  by  the   author,  a  certain 
amount    of    reflection,     varying   of 
coui'se  with  the  intellectual  ability  of 
the  reader,  must  be  exercised  by  him 
when  reading.     Indeed,  many  books 
require  to  be  gone  through  several 
times  before  they  can  be  at  all  ap- 
preciated or  understood.     Of  course 
the  more    obscure     the  writer  the 
greater  must  be  the  amount  of  study 
on  perusal.     And  works  of  this  na- 
ture, though  popularly  called  ''  dry," 
are  particularly  suitable  reading  for 
teachers,  expanding  their  power  of 
instructing,  and  giving  force  to  their 
powers  of  comprehension. 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOBLD. 


335 


And,  whilst  speaking  of  suitable 
reading  for  teachers,  let  us  devote  a 
few  thoughts  to  another  branch  of 
the  topic.     We  think  that  Sunday- 
school  teachers  hardly  attach  suffi- 
cient importance  to  the  necessity  of 
understanding  in  some  measure  diffi- 
cult portions  of  Scripture.     They  too 
often  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  the 
absence  of  knowledge  on  such  points 
will  probably  cause  astonishment  in 
their  little  hearers,   preternaturally 
quick  in  selecting  difficult  passages 
for  explanation   and  seeking  a  key 
to  hidden  mysteries.      To  the  end 
that  all  such  difficulties  may  be  ob- 
viated, teachers  should  devote  more 
of  their  time  to  the  study  of  God's 
Word ;  and  aided  by  commentaries 
and  other  works  elucidating  difficult 
texts  and  passages,  they  might  be 
more  fitted  to  teach,  instead  of  need- 
ing themselves  to  be  instructed  (in 
the  most  important  of    knowledge), 
as  is  but  too  often  the  case.     They 
would  then  be  more  ready  and  able 
to  dissipate  the  darkness  lingering 
over    the   youthful  minds   of   their 
charges  in  regard  to  the  mysteries  of 
the  Bible.     There  are  so  many  works 
on  these  subjects  that  teachers  need 
never  to  be  at  a  loss  for  the  means  of 
increasing  their  knowledge  of  Bible 
doctrines  that  they  may  have  to  ex- 
plain at  future  times  to  their  chil- 
dren.    Careful  and  prayerful  study 
of  the  Word  of  God,  therefore,  should 
form  the  most  important  branch  of 
reading  in  which  the    teacher   can 
engage. 

Historical  and  biographical  works 
are  especially  beneficial  reading  for 
Sunday-school  teachers.  A  know- 
ledge of  the  lives  of  good  and  great 
men,  and  general  information  regard- 
ing history,  relating  both  to  our  own 
and  other  countries — these  are  al- 
most indispensable  adjuncts  to  the 
teacher's  requirements,  if  he  would 
teach  efficiently  and  well.  The 
power  of  illustrating  his  addresses 


to  the  young  is  thus  very  greatly 
increased,  enabKng  him  to  rivet 
the  attention  and  augment  the  in- 
terest of  his  class.  Such  reading, 
besides  fitting  him  for  his  labours,  is 
of  course  extremely  expanding  in  its 
effects  upon  the  whole  tenor  of  his 
mind.  So  also  is  the  study  of  works 
relating  to  nature.  Whilst  loving 
the  Word  of  God,  teachers  should 
not  neglect  the  open  book  of  His 
works.  Truly  a  marvellous  book  is 
this !  Eeading  on  natural  history, 
in  order  to  the  possession  of  a  know- 
ledge of  God's  handiwork,  is  de- 
sirable for  every  Sunday-school 
teacher ;  for  in  teaching  the  young 
concerning  the  goodness  of  a  kind 
Creator  to  His  creatures,  how  greatly 
is  the  effect  deepened  and  strength- 
ened when  the  teacher  can  illustrate 
his  meaning  by  giving  instances  of 
remarkable  and  interesting  facts  in 
the  economy  of  nature !  Therefore 
should  teachers  never  neglect  this 
class  of  reading,  remembering  that 
the  young  heart  is  often  led,  by  sim- 
ple wonder  and  astonishment  at  the 
goodness  of  the  God  of  Nature,  to 
love  and  serve  the  God  of  Grace 
revealed  in  the  Word  read  and  ex- 
plained. 

Finally,  we  particularly  wish  our 
readers  to  be  impressed  with  a  sense 
ot  the  vast  importance  of  the  sub- 
ject. By  some  this  may  be  con- 
sidered a  trivial  matter ;  but  to  us  it  is 
one  of  great,  nay,  of  solemn  moment. 
Those  who  have  not  carefully  and 
thoughtfully  considered  the  question 
can  hardly  comprehend  how  won- 
drous is  the  effect  of  reading  on  the 
mysterious  tracery  of  the  mind,  the 
under-current  of  its  subtle  workings 
held  in  memory's  casket.  Truly  we 
are  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made  ! 
Reading  there  is  before  us,  of  two 
classes — good  and  bad.  We  choose 
the  bad ;  and  lo !  how  mighty  its 
evil  influence !  The  unbidden  evil 
thought,    desire,    imagination,    the 


336 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WORLD. 


objectionable  morals,  and  low  **  man- 
nerism," once  implanted  in  the  mind 
by  reading  and  never  effaced, — all 
tbese,  and  many  otber  evils,  rise  up 
from  time  to  time,  continually  re- 
proacbing  us,  everlasting  sources  of 
wrong  tbinking  and  wrong  acting. 
But  if  we  select  tbe  good,  bow  genial 
and  beneficial  its  effects  !  How  in- 
vigorating its  influence  over  our 
natures,  bow  great  its  power  of  in- 


creasing our  intellectual  capacities  ! 
Wbo  sball  say  bow  migbty  and 
wide- spread  a  benefit  batb  been 
wrought  by  the  author  of  a  tho- 
roughly good  book,  tending  only  to 
improve  the  reader !  Reply  to  this 
there  is  none.  These  secrets  are  hid 
within  human  hearts,  whence  they 
shall  one  day  be  all  revealed  and 
brought  to  light.  —  The  Sundaif 
Teachers'  Treasury, 


^ 

/-^>5?i?!w-\N 

^S^|r| 

M 

^ 

^^ 

VIII.    AUXILIARY   AGENCIES. 


S.  S.  "UNIONS  AND  INSTITUTES. 

854.  Their  Utility.— WeU-con- 
ducted  Sunday-school  Unions  have 
a  powerful  tendency  to  promote  the 
spirit  of  your  office.  The  occasional 
meeting  of  fellow-labourers  from  dif- 
ferent schools,  together  with  the  in- 
teresting communications  and  mu- 
tual exhortations  which  are  then 
delivered,  have  a  very  enlivening 
effect.  The  very  sight  of  so  large  a 
"body  of  fellow-teachers,  engaged  in 
the  same  cause,  has  an  exhilarating 
tendency,  especially  when  one  and 
another  details  the  result  of  success- 
ful exertions.  Not  only  do  neigh- 
bouring flames  brighten  each  other's 
blaze,  but  even  dying  embers  upon 
the  hearth,  by  being  brought  into 
contact,  mutually  rekindle  their  ex- 
piring flames.  Thus  the  communion 
which  is  established  by  these  asso- 
ciations promotes,  in  a  very  powerful 
manner,  the  feeling  essential  to  the 
character  of  a  good  teacher.  A  holy 
emulation  is  also  excited,  which,  if 
it  do  not  degenerate  into  envy,  leads 
on  to  the  happiest  effects.  The  an- 
nual meetings,  which  are  necessarily 
connected  with  the  Union,  aid  the 
general  impression,  and  keep  up  the 
interest  in  an  eminent  degree.  It 
has  been  universally  admitted  by 
those  who  have  tried  the  plan,  that 
it  is  pregnant  with  advantages  in 
respect  of  the  particular  object  which 
I  am  now  considering.  The  teachers 
who  are  connected  with   the  best 


regulated  Unions  can  testify,  froni 
ample  experience,  to  their  adaptation^ 
to  keep  up  the  spirit  of  the  office. — 
J.  A.  James, 

855.  Object.— The  object  of  the 
convention  is  to  awaken  an  earnest 
and  intelligent  enthusiasm  in  the 
Sunday-school  work,  to  diffuse  in- 
formation in  regard  to  the  best  me- 
thods of  conducting  Sunday-schools 
and  of  teaching  Sunday-school  classes, 
and  to  devise  and  organise  means  for 
Sunday-school  extension  within  the 
territory  represented  by  the  conven- 
tion. The  officers  should  be  men  of 
tact,  decision,  Sunday-school  expe- 
rience, and  possessors,  in  some  de- 
gree, of  a  knowledge  of  the  usages 
of  deliberative  assemblies.  I^et  a 
half-hour  be  given,  at  the  opening 
of  each  session,  to  devotional  exer- 
cises. Let  each  convention  have  a 
children's  meeting,  and,  if  possible, 
some  children's  prayer-meetings  in 
connection  with  it,  the  latter  in  the 
morning.  Avoid  foreign  subjects  in 
all  discussions.  Adhere  inflexibly  to 
the  objects  of  the  convention,  and  let 
the  president  kindly  but  firmly  hold 
each  speaker  to  the  subject  imme- 
diately in  hand,  and  not  to  any  and 
every  thing  that  may  chance  to  pre- 
sent itself  for  discussion.  Have  some- 
body as  singer  who  can  drink  in  the 
spirit  of  the  convention,  and  who,  at 
proper  intervals,  and  with  no  loss  of 
time,  can  lead  the  convention  in  an 
appropriate  verse.    Too  much  sing- 


338 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


ing,  of  course,  is  an  evil,  but  too 
little  is  a  worse  one. — House. 

856.  Settled  Points.  —  While 
there  is  great  diversity  of  opinion  in 
regard  to  the  institute  and  the  me- 
thods of  conducting  it,  there  are 
some  things  which  have  the  indorse- 
ment of  the  majority  of  the  best 
Sunday-school  workers. 

1.  The  leader  or  conductor  of  an 
institute  should  be  an  instructor, 
should  know  the  heart  of  teaching, 
and  should  have  his  heart  aglow  with 
ardour  in  the  work. 

2.  If  the  institute  lasts  over  se- 
veral days  or  nights  vary  the  leader. 
Let  one  man  occupy  the  forenoon, 
another  the  afternoon,  a  third  the 
evening,  a  fourth  the  second  morn- 
ing, and  so  on.  In  large  cities  the 
institute  succeeds  best  by  ranging 
over  a  week  of  evenings. 

3.  Do  not  have  too  much  appa- 
ratus or  machinery.  Let,  however, 
a  general  outline  or  programme  of 
the  exercises  be  in  the  hands  of  all 
present,  and  let  each  member  be 
liberally  provided  with  blank  paper 
and  pencils,  and  note  every  valuable 
suggestion  or  idea.  "  Plumbago  and 
foolscap,"  says  some  one,  ''are  in- 
valuable assistants  on  such  an  occa- 
sion." Have,  also,  a  blackboard  and 
a  good  map.  For  reference  and  mo- 
del exercises  have  plenty  of  Bibles. 
As  a  general  rule,  all  institutes  that 
contemplate  frequent  periodical  meet- 
ings fail.  Sometimes  institute  exer- 
cises are  successfully  combined  with 
a  teachers'  meeting.  A  very  com- 
mon and  successful  form,  at  present, 
is  the  annual  institute,  in  connection 
with  a  county  convention  or  other- 
wise. Training  classes  have  done 
well  for  a  while  in  several  places. 
But  there  are  other  and  quite  as 
useful  forms  of  institute  work  that 
might  be  introduced.  Suppose  that 
all  the  Churches  in  a  city  or  village, 
or  in  a  township  or  precinct,  should 


agree  to  devote  a  week  to  the  sub- 
ject of  Sabbath-schools.  Let  it  be 
called  the  Sunday-school  week ;  let 
sermons  be  preached  on  the  Sabbath 
preceding  relating  to  the  Sunday- 
school  work ;  then  let  a  programme 
of  institute  exercises  be  arran^'ed  for 
each  evening  in  the  week.  Secure 
the  services  of  the  best  and  most 
practical  workers  for  addresses,  prac- 
tice lessons,  blackboard  and  map  ex- 
ercises. It  might  be  a  good  plan  to 
secure  the  services  of  an  experienced 
Sabbath- school  worker  from  abroad 
to  take  charge  of  the  institute,  bring- 
ing in  such  help  as  he  could  secure 
from  the  community.  Let  the  Satur- 
day afternoon  of  the  week  be  given 
to  a  children's  meeting.  Then  close 
up  the  week  by  giving  the  succeed- 
ing Sabbath  to  the  Sunday-school, 
as  follows : — Morning  hour,  sermons 
in  the  different  churches  on  Sabbath- 
school  subjects ;  afternoon,  Sunday- 
school  concerts ;  evening,  a  union 
Sunday-school  meeting,  with  two  or 
three  animated  addresses.  If  such 
a  plan  were  well  carried  out,  it  could 
not  fail  to  give  a  great  impetus  to 
the  Sunday-school  work. — Eggleston. 


857. 


In  the  Sunday-school 


convention  of  the  Irish  Presbyte- 
rians, Belfast,  Ireland,  June  25,  26, 
1867,  at  which  over  eight  hundred 
delegates  were  present,  the  following 
points  were  made : 

1.  Every  school  should  have  at 
least  one  training  class  for  teachers. 
One  delegate  reported  a  school  which 
had  eighteen  such  classes.  Teachers 
are  not  ^^reac/^ers,  but  teachers,  and 
should,  therefore,  teach  by  asking 
and  answering  questions. 

2.  Attractive  stories  are  best  for 
infant  classes,  and  catechism  for  ad- 
vanced scholars. 

3.  Teaching  is  to  be  estimated, 
not  by  the  amount  of  truth  spoken, 
but  by  what  the  children  take  into 
their  minds. 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


339 


4.  The  causes  of  defective  disci- 
pline are  unsuitable  rooms ;  over- 
crowded  rooms  ;  lack  of  punctuality; 
inefficiency  of  teachers. 

5.  Prayers  in  the  Sunday-school 
should  not  be  more  than  four  minutes 
long. 

6.  Sunday-school  music  should  be 
quick  and  lively,  and  chants  should 
be  introduced. 

7.  The  essence  of  good  teaching 
consists  in  skilful  questioning. — 
House. 

858.  Proceedings.  —  Almost  all 
of  our  State  and  county  conventions 
have  institute  exercises  connected 
with  their  sessions.  Sometimes  a 
day,  sometimes  a  half-day  is  given 
up  to  such  exercises,  conducted  by 
some  one  appointed  for  that  purpose. 
In  other  conventions  an  hour  or  two 
hours  of  each  session  are  devoted  to 
such  work.  Perhaps,  after  all,  the 
simplest  form  is  the  best.  Let  your 
institute  exercises  be  interspersed 
with  the  discussions  of  the  Conven- 
tion. In  this  way  the  weariness  that 
is  apt  to  be  produced  by  the  close 
confinement  to  the  institute  work 
proper  is  relieved,  and  greater  fresh- 
ness and  animation  given  to  all  the 
exercises.  Indeed,  it  is  questionable 
whether  an  institute  should  ever  be 
conducted  without  some  season  of 
free  discussion  after  the  convention 
style.  Certainly,  no  convention  should 
be  held  without  institute  exercises 
of  some  sort.  Exercises  for  insti- 
tutes take  a  great  variety  of  forms. 
A  list  of  some  of  the  most  common 
ones  is  as  follows:  1.  Lectures;  2. 
Addresses ;  3.  Essays ;  4.  Drill  ex- 
ercises ;  0.  Map  exercises ;  6.  Ques- 
tion drawer  ;  7.  Answer  drawer ; 
8.  Practice  lessons ;  9.  Model  ge- 
neral exercises  ;  10.  Model  teachers' 
meetings;  11.  Discussions;  12.  Ver- 
bal questions.  Where  a  thorough, 
prepared  lecture  can  be  had  from  an 
able  hand,  it  is  exceedingly  valuable. 


The  only  objection  to  such  an  exer- 
cise is  that  it  keeps  the  attention 
strained  without  giving  employment 
to  the  members  of  the  institute,  and 
should,  therefore,  be  followed  by 
some  animated  exercise  as  a  relief 
to  the  institute.  The  lecture  can  be 
used  to  develop  some  general  subject 
relating  to  Sunday-school  manage- 
ment and  methods  of  teaching,  or  it 
can  be  made  still  more  valuable  in 
giving  important  Scriptural  infor- 
mation. It  is,  however,  liable  to  se- 
rious objections,  and  should  not  be 
used  too  frequently,  and  should  be 
intrusted  only  to  the  best  hands. — 
House. 

859.  The  Subjects  for  Considera- 
tion in  an  Institute  may  be  sug- 
gested as  follows : — 

1.  How  to  form  new  schools.  2. 
How  best  to  gather  in  the  children. 
3.  Their  conversion  and  culture.  4. 
Organisation  and  classification.  5. 
Superintendents'  duties.  6.  Opening 
and  closing  exercises.  7.  The  library 
and  record  books.  8.  The  Bible 
classes.  9.  The  intermediate  classes. 
10.  The  infant-school.  11.  Anni- 
versaries and  concerts.  12.  Reviews 
and  catechisms.  13.  Children's  prayer- 
meetings.    14.  Training  of  converts. 

15.  How  to  teach;  with  model  les- 
sons and  examples  of  good  modes. 

16.  Illustrative  teaching.  17.  Ob- 
ject teaching.  18.  Pictorial  teach- 
ing. 19.  The  use  of  the  blackboard.. 
20.  The  art  of  questioning.  21.  The 
art  of  securing  attention.  22.  The 
preparation  of  the  lesson.  23.  Teach- 
ers' meetings.  24.  Sunday-school 
music.  25.  Children's  prayers  and 
devotions.  26.  Map  drawing.  27. 
Bible  geography,  history,  &e.  28. 
Temperance  meetings. — Pardee. 

860.  Abuse  of  S.  S.  Unions. — 
I  must,  however,  repeat  what  I  have 
already  stated  in  the  Introduction, 
that,   without    great    watchfulnessy 

2 


340 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WORLD. 


the  effects  of  Unions  will  upon  ex- 
perience be  found  to  be  of  a  mixed 
character.  They  have  in  some 
instances  tended  to  produce  and 
cherish  a  spirit  of  confederation  and 
faction  among  the  teachers,  who,  re- 
garding themselves  as  a  separate  and 
independent  body,  have  disturbed  the 
churches  to  which  they  belonged  by 
the  consequence  they  assumed,  and 
the  authority  they  claimed.  The 
array  of  numbers  as  presented  at  the 
meetings  of  these  associations,  and 
especially  the  intercourse  to  which 
this  sometimes  leads  with  persons  of 
turbulent  dispositions,  are  likely  to 
give  a  consciousness  of  strength  and 
importance  to  those  who,  on  a  less 
wide  and  conspicuous  field  of  action, 
would  have  retained  all  their  original 
humility  and  modesty. — /.  A,  James. 


MISSION  SUNDAY-SCHOOLS. 

861.  Work  of  a  S.  S.  Union.— 
There  are  two  great  subjects  which 
should  always  be  before  every  insti- 
tute, as  well  as  every  convention, 
viz. :  1.  The  extension  of  Sabbath- 
schools,  so  as  to  reach  all  of  the 
neglected  ;  2.  The  elevation  and 
improvement  of  existing  schools ; — 
and  they  need  improving,  if  not 
reforming,  in  every  part. — Tardee. 

862.  Importance  of  Mission  S.  S. 
— The  subject  of  mission-schools,  of 
which  I  spoke  inmy  last,  has  assumed, 
for  a  few  past  years,  new  and  enlarged 
importance.  'We  formerly  held  them 
with  no  distinct  individual  design 
connected  with  them.  We  collected 
them  and  taught  them  in  our  public 
school-houses,  or  in  any  convenient 
attainable  place.  The*^  whole  idea 
was  immediate  present  instruction 
to  the  children,  with  no  view  of  any 


definite  result  into  which  the  opera- 
tions might  grow.  Many  of  these 
schools,  accordingly,  were  merely 
temporary  efforts,  and  passed  soon 
and  entirely  away.  The  benefits 
conferred  by  them  upon  individual 
children  might  be  real  and  abiding ; 
the  solid  and  substantial  benefit  to 
the  community  was  not  seen.  Our 
later  habit  has  been  to  set  up  these 
mission- schools  with  the  distinct  idea 
of  some  permanent  influence  and 
organisation,  looking  in  some  shape 
to  the  establishment  of  a  church  of 
some  kind  that  will  grow  out  of 
it ;  so  that  our  Sunday-schools  have 
become  more  and  more  the  germs  of 
living  and  permanent  churches — and 
thus  have  gained  an  increasing  aspect 
of  abiding  usefulness  in  the  commu- 
nity.— Dr.  Tyng. 

863.  Porming  a  Mission  Sabbath- 
School. — Find  a  single  man  or  woman 
whose  heart  is  in  the  project.  De- 
termine, with  the  help  of  God,  to  do 
it.  Next  obtain  assistants  who  are 
equally  engaged  or  interested  in  the 
work  with  yourself.  Thirdly,  get  a 
place  to  meet — a  hall,  building,  or 
room — the  best  you  can.  get.  Then 
combine  your  teachers — get  them 
together  to  plan,  pray,  and  talk  over 
the  work  before  them.  Then  go  out 
around  you.  Yisit  the  neighbour- 
hood— all  the  families.  As  the  scho- 
lars and  parents  come  in,  one  by  one, 
open  your  classes.  God  will  bless 
you  if  you  are  faithful. — E,  D, 
Jones. 

864.  A  Successfal  Experiment. — 
The  most  successful  experiment  I 
ever  knew,  in  the  way  of  establishing 
a  school,  began  in  this  wise.  First 
a  superintendent  was  chosen,  before 
there  was  any  school  to  superintend. 
There  was  a  schoolroom  and  a  super- 
intendent, but  neither  scholars  nor 
teachers.  The  first  step  was  the 
formation  of  two  adult  Bible-classes : 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


341 


one  of  gentlemen,  all  married,  who 
met  in  the  morning ;  the  other  of 
ladies,  all  married  but  two  or  three, 
who  met  in  the  afternoon.  Younger 
persons  and  children  came  in  gradu- 
aU}^,  as  the  superintendent  was  pre- 
pared for  them.  In  that  school,  the 
idea  of  leaving  it,  or  of  declining  to 
enter  it,  on  account  of  being  too  old, 
has  never  had  a  footing. — Dr.  Hart. 

865.  Another  Experiment. — An 
old  gentleman  from  England  gives 
the  following  account  of  a  school 
which  he  raised  up  in  that  country. 
I  quote  it  not  more  for  the  last 
sentence  than  the  whole  account.  ' '  I 
commenced  my  school  thirty  years 
ago,  all  alone,  with  twelve  children. 
If  any  were  absent  or  late  for  thi'ee 
consecutive  Sabbaths,  for  any  other 
cause  than  sickness,  he  was  dismissed, 
and  another  was  selected  from  the 
numerous  applicants  to  take  his  place. 
When  I  thought  it  best,  I  raised  the 
number  to  twenty-four,  and  finally 
to  sixty,  beyond  which  I  would  not 
go.  As  a  teacher  I  stood  alone  for 
seven  years,  and  with  great  opposition 
against  the  school.  Eight  of  my 
first  twelve  soon  became  my  Bible- 
class.  They  were  closely  attentive 
during  all  their  examinations,  and 
they  became  teachers  of  their  res- 
pective classes  under  my  inspection 
as  their  superintendent.  One  of  these 
eight  is  now  a  faithful  and  laborious 
minister  of  the  Gospel,  and  the  others 
were  all  early  in  life  members  of  the 
church  with  which  I  was  connected. 
Many  of  these  sixty  I  have  seen 
happy  on  their  sick  and  dying  beds, 
though  some  have  gone  on  hardened 
and  yet  miserable  in  their  iniquity. 
I  once  reproved  a  vain  young  man, 
a  stranger  whom  I  met  in  a  passage- 
boat,  for  profaneness.  There  was  a 
solemn  silence  in  the  boat  for  ten 
minutes.  Every  eye  was  fixed  on 
him,  noticing  the  mental  perturbation 
which  was  visible  through  his  coun- 


tenance. After  this  he  said,  '  Ah ! 
sir,  if  I  had  followed  the  advice 
which  you  used  to  give  me  in  the 
Sabbath- school,  I  should  be  a  happier 
man  than  I  now  am.'  After  informing 
me  who  he  was,  and  giving  me  his 
history,  he  added,  *  And  there.  Sir, 
(pointing  to  a  box,)  in  the  bottom  of 
that  box,  under  a  napkin,  is  every 
book  which  you  ever  gave  me,  and 
when  by  accident  I  lift  up  the  cloth, 
they  make  me  tremble.'  I  have 
a  few  times  in  my  life  given  a  musical 
lesson  as  an  encouragement  and 
reward  to  the  children,  but  it  tends 
to  dissipate  the  minds  from  the  more 
important  work  before  them,  and  I 
do  not  think  that  any  good  was  ever 
produced  by  it.  Teaching  without 
notes  is  quite  sufficient,  and  best  for 
a  Sabbath-school." — Todd. 

866.  Details  of  the  Work.— 
But  to  come  to  the  details  of  this 
work,  and  how  it  should  be  begun 
and  carried  on : — First  choose  wisely 
the  locality  for  a  new  church  or 
mission  Sabbath-school.  Then  select 
one  or  more  men  and  women  full  of 
life  and  zeal,  as  a  nucleus  of  interest 
and  labour.  Next  survey  and  visit 
systematically  all  the  families  in  the 
district,  and  present  the  objects  and 
the  value  and  adaptedness  of  the 
Sunday-school  to  their  wants.  Pray 
much  and  at  every  step  privately  and 
socially,  especially  in  the  early  stages 
of  the  effort.  Get  all  ready  for  a 
good  commencement.  Have  every- 
thing arranged,  so  that  not  a  mo- 
ment of  delay  in  finding  the  right 
hymn,  or  in  singing  it,  will  prompt 
the  children  to  find  something  else  to 
do.  Do  not  admit  children  faster 
than  you  can  conveniently  control 
them.  Some  superintendents  aim  at 
having  a  rush  of  scholars  the  first 
Sabbath  or  two,  and  the  result  is 
that  they  lose  months  ere  they  secure 
the  good  order  and  control  of  the 
children.    It  is  often  better  to  admit 


342 


SU^'DAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


only  a  dozen  or  two  new  scholars  at 
a  time,  and  get  them  well  classified 
and  arranged,  and  in  the  hands  of 
good  teachers.  There  must  be  order, 
.and  the  superintendent  must  wait 
for  it,  although  he  may  not  at  the 
first  do  much  beside.  Much  depends 
upon  starting  right.  Have  Testa- 
ments, hymn-books,  and  Sunday- 
school  papers,  if  possible,  ready  on 
the  first  Sabbath. — Pardee. 

867.  Need  of  Canvassing. — 
Thorough  and  hearty  canvassing 
should  be  habitually  carried  on. 
Above  all,  every  teacher  and  every 
Church  member  should  be  in  earnest 
to  save  the  myriads  of  young  people, 
from  fifteen  to  twenty-five,  that  are 
hurrying  on  to  destruction.  Every 
servant,  every  apprentice,  every  one 
on  whom  we  can  lay  our  hands,  we 
should  put  into  the  Sabbath-school. 
Set  the  fashion,  and  the  thing  is 
done.  In  every  locality,  the  first 
twenty  will  be  the  hardest  to  ob- 
tain; and,  in  every  spot,  nothing 
will  be  effected  without  intense 
earnestness,  controlled  by  vigorous, 
well-directed,  well- sustained  effort. 
Once  enrolled  in  the  school,  it  de- 
volves on  their  teacher  to  keep  them 
there. — David'' s. 

868.  Individual  Missionary  ef- 
fort.— An  active  teacher,  who  had  no 
stated  class,  was  in  the  habit  of 
leaving  the  school  as  soon  as  he  had 
•ascertained  that  his  services  were 
not  required  to  fiU  a  vacant  post,  and 
usually  returned  with  a  tribe  of  six 
or  eight  little  ones,  whom  he  had 
gathered  from  the  streets.  As  the 
natural  tendency  of  a  school  is  to 
diminish,  special  and  constant  efforts 
should  be  made  to  counteract  this 
downward  course ;  and  there  is  no- 
thing so  successful  as  canvassing  on 
the  Sahhath-day  :  if  faithfully  and 
extensively  practised,  every  poor 
child  must  be  soon  in  a  Sabbath- 
school. — David^s. 


869.  A  Union  Mission-school. — 
The  plan  here  given  in  its  present 
form  grew  out  of  an  exigency  in  the 
operations  of  the  Missionary  Com- 
mittee of  the  New  York  Sunday- 
School  Union  in  the  summer  of 
1856.  In  their  great  endeavour  to 
reach  the  neglected  masses  of  chil- 
dren and  youth,  more  than  sixty 
thousand  seemed  to  be  beyond  their 
reach.  A  more  thorough  work  was 
needed.  Occasional  visits  and  ordi- 
nary attention  did  not  so  gain  the 
acquaintance  and  confidence  as  to 
rescue  these  neglected  ones.  They 
were  the  most  destitute  and  needy, 
and  the  most  important  to  reach  in 
our  city.  After  much  consideration 
and  prayer,  this  plan  was  adopted, 
presented  to,  and  accepted  by  the 
churches  in  New  York  and  Brook- 
lyn, and  it  was  soon  adopted  by 
other  cities  and  States  also.  Every- 
where it  has  developed  astonishing 
results,  increasing  Sabbath-schools 
and  churches,  and  speedily  trans- 
forming dark  neighbourhoods. 
Forty-four  churches  of  various 
evangelical  denominations  entered 
upon  the  work  within  a  few  months 
after  its  introduction,  and  quite  uni- 
formly the  Sabbath- schools  doubled 
their  scholars  within  the  first  month 
or  two,  and  in  some  marked  in- 
stances, church  members  and  con- 
gregations were  more  than  doubled 
in  numbers  within  six  months.  As 
long  as  it  was  faithfully  worked,  it 
everywhere  prospered,  demonstrating 
that  the  plan  was  a  good  one. — 
Pardee, 


870. 


If    each     professing 


Christian  in  our  churches  who  is 
able  would  become  responsible  for 
the  regular  visitation  of  but  four 
neglected  families,  every  family  in 
our  land  would  be  faithfully  visited. 
''  What  a  plain,  simple,  magnificent 
idea  is  here  presented !  "  A  regular 
Christian  army  of  occupation  for  our 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


843 


whole  country.  Says  the  Eev.  Dr. 
GrTithrie :  "It  would  everywhere 
bring  life  into  contact  with  death, 
and  cover  the  whole  outlying  popu- 
lation, even  as  the  prophet  with  his 
own  body  covered  the  dead  body  of 
the  child."  The  motto  is:  "Every 
child  in  the  Sabbath-school,  and 
every  family  in  the  Church." — 
Pardee. 

871.   Mission-schools  in  Large 
Cities. — In  St.  Louis,  Chicago,  and 
other  cities  were  mission-schools  have 
been  established  on   a  broad  scale, 
nothing  noticeable  has  ever  been  ac- 
complished on  the  Union  basis.     It 
is  different  in  great    centres  from 
what    it    is    in  sparsely  populated 
districts   or  small  towns,  where,  in 
many  cases,  no  one  denomination  has 
power,  of  itself,  to  sustain  an  organi- 
sation.    It  was  not  till  the  imion 
method  was    abandoned,   and  each 
denomination  took  up  the  work  by 
itself,    through  its  local   churches, 
that  perceptible  progress  was  made 
in  Chicago.     The  benefit  of  the  in- 
dependent plam  is  threefold :  it  ex- 
cites  a  generous  and   healthy  emu- 
lation   within    each    denomination, 
as  weU  as  between  denominations ; 
it   throws    responsibility    upon  the 
local  church,  and  thus  draws  out  all 
its  resources  of  men  and  money ;  and 
it  connects  the  results  with  an  indi- 
vidual Church,  so  that  the  harvest 
is  carefully  garnered.     At  the  same 
time,   this  plan  places   no   obstacle 
whatever  in  the  way  of  fraternal  in- 
tercourse  and   co-operation   of    de- 
nominations, which  meet  together  in 
conventions  to  compare  methods,  re- 
port progress,  and  unite  in  prayer. 
By  this  earnest  denominational  la- 
bour— on  the  plan  of  Nehemiah  for 
building    the    waUs   of    Jerusalem, 
every  man  over  against  his  own  house 
— an  unparalleled   success  has  been 
obtained,  without  any  abridgment  of 
freedom  or  zeal  in  the  advocacy  of 


peculiar  views,  and  without  any  in- 
terruption of  fraternal  feelings  be- 
tween the  various  sects.  Thus  each 
school  is  on  the  broad  basis  of  all 
that  it  believes,  while  it  maintains 
the  most  friendly  relations  with  the 
others. — House. 

872.     The    Way  we  work   our 
Mission- school. — The  whole  district 
occupied   by  the   school  is   divided 
into  sections.    Each  of  these  sections 
is  intrusted  to  the   care  of  a  visitor 
selected  from  among  the  teachers  or 
officers.     It  is  made  the  duty  of  each 
teacher  to  look  after  his  own  class, 
but  in  addition  to  their  care  is  that 
of  the  visitor,   who  is   supposed  to 
know  who   are  occupants  of  every 
house  in  his   section,   to  collect  aU 
the  pupils  these  houses  will  afford, 
and  to  seek  for  the  wanderers.     The 
name  and  age  of  every  scholar,  the 
place  of  his  residence,  and  the  names 
of  his  parents  or  guardians  are  re- 
gistered on  the  day  of  his  first  ap- 
pearance in  the  school.     When  he 
has  been  a  member  of  the   school 
four  Sundays  he  receives  a  certificate 
of   membership.     Every  Sunday  the 
register  of  his  class  shows  whether 
he  is  present,  whether  he  has  a  per- 
fect lesson,  and  how  many  verses  of 
Scripture  he  has  recited  on  that  day. 
The  class  registers,  collected  by  the 
division  managers,   are  copied  into 
the  books  of  the   school,  so  that   a 
glance  will  reveal  the  school  history 
of  each  pupil.     When  any  pupU  has 
been  absent  two  successive  Sundays, 
his  name  and  address  are  given  to 
the  visitor  of  that  section  of  the  dis- 
trict in  which  he  resides.     The  duty 
of   the   visitor  is  to   ascertain   the 
cause   of  his   absence,    and,    if  pos- 
sible, bring  him  back.     Every  Fri- 
day  evening  a    prayer-meeting    is 
held   in  the   room   of  the    ' '  infant 
department."       Usually,  a  meeting 
is  held  in  the  principal  room  on  Sun- 
day   evening,    when  a    sermon    is 


344 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL  WOELD. 


preached.  Tlie  plan  of  the  school 
involves  the  employment  of  an  or- 
dained missionary,  whose  whole  time 
shall  be  given  to  work  upon  the 
field— to  pastoral  labour  during  the 
week,  and  to  preaching  on  Sunday. 
— Z.  M.  Humphreij,  D.D. 

873.  Pirst  Lessons  in  Mission- 
schools. —  Select  a  clear,  distinct, 
easy  lesson  at  the  first,  and  what- 
ever is  done,  let  it  be  well  done. 
Select  the  teachers  carefully,  andj 
admit  none  who  have  not  a  good 
report,  and  are  not  of  a  teachable 
spirit.  Meetwith  the  teachers  socially  j 
every  week,  if  possible,  to  aid  them  J 
with  your  suggestions  and  help.  Be  1 
cheerful,  earnest,  and  respectful  to  all. 
Keep  up  a  regular  visitation  of 
teachers  and  scholars,  and  let  your 
visits  bear  a  fraternal  and  not  an 
inquisitorial  aspect.  Prove  your- 
selves the  true  friends  of  parents  and 
scholars,  and  never  get  discouraged 
or  out  of  patience  because  you  can- 
not gain  the  children  of  Roman 
Catholic  or  Jewish  parents  at  once  : 
it  may  be  only  a  question  of  time. 
At  any  rate,  do  them  all  the  good 
you  can  at  their  homes,  whether  you 
ever  lead  them  to  the  Sunday-school 
or  not.  Duty  is  ours — results  be- 
long to  God.  Through  the  children 
reach  the  parents,  and  through  the 
parents  reach  the  children.  Let 
your  errand  to  the  house  always  be 
one  of  kindness  and  good-will,  so 
that  if  they  do  not  receive  you  kindly 
it  will  be  because  they  misunderstand 
you.  These  visits,  however,  are 
almost  invariably  well  received  if 
made  in  a  natural,  pleasant  manner, 
proceeding  from  a  '■ '  charity  which 
hopeth  all  things."  Respect  and 
honour  the  parents  all  you  can, 
whether  they  commit  their  children 
to  your  care  or  not.  Exhibit  our 
beautiful  library  books,  our  sweet 
songs,  our  attractive  children's  pa- 
pers, and  speak  of  the  great  kind- 


ness and  love  of  the  teachers  to  the 
children. — Pardee. 

874.  Simplicity  of  the  Gospel. — 
All  the  Gospel  knowledge  really  ne- 
cessary for  salvation  lies,  as  it  were, 
in  a  nutshell.  The  knowledge  of 
their  fall  and  sinfulness,  and  the 
atonement  and  redemption  which  is 
in  Christ  Jesus,  and  which,  to  a 
willing  mind,  can  be  taught  in  a 
few  minutes,  is  all  the  knowledge 
really  necessary  for  salvation.  Really 
teach  this,  and  it  will  remain  at- 
tached to  the  natural  conscience  for 
life,  and  only  awaits  the  spark  of 
grace  from  the  Holy  Spirit  to  descend 
and  act  upon  it,  and  renew  the  heart 
and  change  the  life. — Pardee. 


VISITIM  ^ro  VISITORS. 

875.  A  Visitor  Appointed.  — 
In  some  schools  there  is  a  supernu- 
merary teacher  specially  devoted  to 
visit  absentees  during  the  hours  that 
others  teach.  This  is  a  very  excel- 
lent plan,  and  can  be  made  a  means 
of  great  usefulness.  Knowledge  is 
thus  obtained  whether  parents  are 
aware  of  their  children's  absence,  and 
all  the  teachers  learn  the  cause.  But 
this  should  not  supersede  personal 
visitation  of  the  homes  of  the  scholars 
by  the  teacher.  He  has  a  welcome 
and  an  influence  there  that  no  other 
possesses,  and  an  opportunity  of  doing 
good  of  the  most  encouraging  kind. — 
Dr.  Steel 

876.  Visiting  gains  the  Heart. — 
Few,  even  of  teachers,  appreciate 
fully  the  influence  of  the  heart  upon 
the  head.  How  slow  the  mind  is  to 
receive  or  understand  that  to  which 
the  heart  is  averse.  On  the  contrary, 
how  readily  we  take  in  knowledge 
which  is  pleasing.  Aversion  to  a 
subject,  or  to  the  person  who  presents 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WORLD. 


345 


it,  has  a  sort  of  blinding  influence 
upon  the  mental  vision.  A  wise 
ancient  has  told  ns,  indeed,  that  it  is 
right  to  learn  even  from  an  enemy. 
But  it  is  the  very  difficulty  of  so 
doing  which  has  given  to  this  saying 
its  chief  celebrity.  Much  of  the  up- 
hill work  in  the  training  of  the  young 
has  been  because  the  young  have  re- 
garded, and  often  with  good  reason, 
the  race  of  teachers  as  theu"  natural 
foes.  This  unhappy  idea,  when  it 
once  takes  possession  of  a  child,  has 
the  effect  of  placing  him  in  an  atti- 
tude of  resistance  against  instruction. 
"Whatever  knowledge  the  teacher  suc- 
ceeds in  putting  into  the  mind  of 
such  a  child,  is  by  the  hardest  labour. 
The  skilful  advocate  before  a  jury 
knows  that  much  of  his  success  in 
producing  conviction  depends  upon 
his  first  creating  a  pleasant  impres- 
sion on  their  minds.  Those  advo- 
cates who  are  most  successful  always 
pave  the  way  for  their  arguments  by 
adroit  speeches,  intended  simply  to 
gain  the  confidence  and  good  will  of 
the  hearers.  To  the  public  speaker 
of  any  kind,  the  willing  ear  is  an  in- 
dispensable element  of  success. — Dr. 
Hart. 

Sn,  Confidence  of  Scholar  gained 

by  Visiting.  _  The  connection  of 
these  remarks  with  the  subject  pro- 
posed is  sufficiently  obvious.  There 
is  no  more  certain  way  of  gaining 
the  confidence  and  affections  of  a 
Sabbath- school  scholar,  than  by  visit- 
ing him  at  his  own  home.  The 
scholar  is  pleased  with  such  a  visit  as 
a  mere  attention  from  one  who  is  his 
senior  and  superior.  It  shows  by  a 
significant  fact  that  the  scholar  is 
really  on  his  teacher's  mind.  Such  a 
visit  gives  an  opportunity  for  getting 
acquainted  with  the  child,  and  find- 
ing out  his  peculiarities,  and  also  for 
learning  better  his  advantages  and 
disadvantages.  It  brings  about  also 
a  better  understanding  between  the 


teacher  and  the  parents,  thereby 
securiug  active  home  co-operation. 
When  a  teacher  thus  pays  an  occa- 
sional kindly  visit  to  the  members  of 
his  class,  the  scholars  and  the  parents 
come  to  regard  him  as  a  personal 
friend.  In  the  case  of  poor  families 
particularly,  these  visits  are  greatly 
prized.  Such  families  often  make 
the  teacher  a  sort  of  general  counsel- 
lor and  adviser,  even  in  worldly 
affairs.  The  kiud  and  pleasant  rela- 
tions thus  established  between  the 
teacher  and  the  homes  of  his  scholars, 
give  him  a  wonderfully  increased 
power  over  them  in  the  class.  In- 
struction and  advice  from  his  lips  are 
quite  a  different  thing  from  what  the 
same  words  would  be  coming  from  a 
stranger.  Besides,  the  teacher  who 
knows  all  the  circumstances  of  the 
child's  home,  knows  better  how  to 
adapt  his  instructions  to  each  partic- 
ular case.  He  himself,  too,  becomes 
more  interested  in  each.  His  own 
sympathies  are  awakened  as  well  as 
those  of  his  scholars.  The  work  of 
the  class,  from  being  a  drudgery  and 
a  dull  routine,  becomes  a  living, 
animating  process.  He  teaches  with 
half  the  toil,  because  with  twice  the 
interest,  that  he  formerly  taught. — 
Dr.  Hart. 

878.  Secures  more  Eegnlar  At- 
tendance.— Not  the  least  among  the 
benefits  of  this  visitation  of  scholars, 
is  that  it  breaks  up  almost  entirely 
that  irregularity  of  attendance, 
which  is  the  greatest  weakness  of 
the  Sabbath-school  system.  If  it 
gets  to  be  understood  that  a  teacher 
will  visit  all  his  scholars  regularly 
at  certain  intervals,  and  that  he  will 
invariably  visit  in  the  case  of  every 
absence,  absenteeism,  except  for 
satisfactory  causes,  wiU  soon  cease. 
A  scholar,  whose  absence  is  thus  im- 
mediately followed  up  by  a  visit  from 
the  teacher,  will  either  be  shamed 
out  of  it,  if'  the  absence  were  un- 


346 


SUNDAY  SCHOOL  WORLD. 


necessary,  and  he  will  cease  to  be 
delinquent,  or  else  he  will  leave 
school  entirely,  which  is  certainly  a 
better  result  than  a  fitful,  irregular, 
profitless  attendance  given  by  many 
scholars.  A  school  with  one  hun- 
dred scholars,  all  of  whom  attend 
regularly,  does  more  good  by  far 
than  a  school  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty  scholars,  which  maintains  an 
average  attendance  of  only  one  hun- 
dred. Visiting  has  an  effect  upon 
the  preparation  of  lessons  almost 
equal  to  that  upon  the  attendance. 
It  gives  the  teacher  a  chance  of 
seeing  exactly  what  opportunities 
for  study  the  children  have,  and  of 
explaining  to  the  parents  exactly 
what  kind  of  preparation  is  needed. 
There  are  few  parents  who  are  not 
pleased  with  this  kindly  interest  in 
their  own  children,  and  who  will  not 
gladly  co-operate  with  the  teacher 
in  securing  the  beneficent  ends  for 
which  he  is  laboring.  The  reason 
that  many  parents  do  so  little  of  this 
much  needed  co-operation  is  that 
they  really  do  not  know  how.  A 
little  pleasant  intercourse  with  the 
teacher  sets  the  whole  thing  right. 
The  teacher,  if  a  judicious  person, 
can  do  in  this  way  an  important 
service  to  parents,  giving  them  most 
valuable  hints  and  suggestions  in 
regard  to  the  religious  training  of 
their  children. — Dr.  Hart. 

879.  Visit  Eegularly  and  Often. 
. — The  question,  how  often  a  teacher 
should  visit  the  members  of  his  class, 
does  not  admit  of  any  absolute  rule. 
There  are  some  points  in  regard  to  it, 
however,  which  every  teacher  ought 
to  regard  as  fixed.  First,  the  gene- 
ral duty  should  be  admitted.  Each 
scholar  should  be  visited  statedly  by 
his  teacher.  Whether  the  teacher 
should  visit  his  scholars  once  a  week, 
once  a  month,  once  a  year,  or  once  in 
any  given  time,  are  questions  of 
degree.      The  first  postulate  is  the 


duty  of  visiting  at  all.  To  that  de- 
mand there  should  be  no  denial. 
From  a  pretty  extended  experience 
and  observation  in  regard  to  the 
question  of  frequency,  T  am  inclined 
to  think  that  the  stated  visitations 
of  the  class  ought  to  range  between 
one  month  and  three  months.  Classes 
require  more  or  less  visitation  ac- 
cording to  circumstances  and  age. 
The  teacher  is  not  in  danger  of 
erring  on  the  side  of  frequency. 
Another  point  of  vital  importance-, 
even  more  important  than  the  first, 
is  the  duty  of  visiting  immediately 
every  absentee.  This  visit  should  be 
made  if  possible  on  the  very  day, 
before  the  Sabbath  is  over,  and 
should  never  be  postponed  longer 
than  Monday  or  Tuesday,  if  it  can 
be  avoided.  If  the  child  is  sick,  the 
visit  will  be  most  welcome,  and  aU 
the  more  so  for  being  prompt.  If 
the  absence  is  through  indifference- 
or  neglect,  the  promptness  of  the 
teacher's  call  will  be  more  efficient  as- 
a  reproof  and  correction  than  any 
amount  of  words  could  be.  If  it 
once  gets  to  be  known  that  in  case  of 
absence  the  teacher  will  invariably 
call  before  the  next  Sabbath,  there 
will  be  very  few  such  calls  to  be 
made.  The  teacher's  class  will  be 
always  full. — Dr.  Hart. 

880.  Visits  may  be  Social  as 
well  as  Eeligious. — It  is  not  necessary 
that  the  visits  of  a  Sabbath- school 
teacher  to  his  scholars  at  their  homes 
should  be  always  what  is  called  a 
religious  visit.  Of  course  it  should 
not  be  characterised  by  anything 
frivolous.  But  it  is  not  necessary, 
at  such  a  visit,  always  to  introduce 
the  subject  of  religion.  Many  young^ 
teachers  are  deterred  from  discharging 
this  duty  by  an  incorrect  impression 
on  this  point.  The  visit  being  on  a 
week-day,  any  subject  of  conversation 
will  be  proper,  which  is  proper  be- 
tween two  Christians  meeting  on  a 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


347 


week-day.  The  primary  object  of 
the  ^isit  is  not  to  impart  religious 
instruction,  but  to  establish  and 
strengthen  kind  and  friendly  rela- 
tions, to  acquire  information  in  regard 
to  the  domestic  influences  which 
surround  the  child,  and  to  gain  his 
confidence.  At  the  same  time,  if 
the  teacher  is  drawn  to  open  his 
mouth  to  a  scholar  on  the  subject  of 
personal  religion,  he  will  often  find 
precious  opportunities  in  the  course 
of  these  visits. — Dr.  Hart. 

881.  Visiting  affects  Success. — 
The  success  of  every  teacher  will 
depend  much  on  his  frequent  friendly 
and  Christian  visitation  of  his  scho- 
lars ;  thus  availing  himself  of  the 
sympathy  of  parents  and  children, 
begetting  a  reciprocal  kindness, 
exciting  his  own  interest  in  duty, 
and  preparing  the  soil  of  the  heart 
for  the  proper  culture  of  Sabbath- 
school  instruction. — Dr.  Hart. 


TJEAOHEES'    IMPEOVEMENT 
MEETINGS. 

882.  Should  be  held  Weekly.— 
A  regular  weekly  meeting  of  Sabbath- 
school  teachers  for  conference  and 
prayer  about  all  school  matters,  and 
a  mutual  contribution  of  thoughts 
and  illustrations  and  plans  of  teaching 
adapted  to  each  and  to  all  the  various 
classes  on  the  next  Sabbath's  lesson, 
is  now  considered  an  indispensable 
necessity.  And  it  is  a  great  social 
and  religious  privilege  as  well.  We 
are  all  unworthy,  and  need  to  learn 
how  to  teach  Scripture  truths  attrac- 
tively to  youthful  minds.  AU  need 
training  for  the  work,  and  the  weekly 
teachers'  meetings  ought  to  be  the 
grand  normal  training-schools  for 
Sabbath -school  teachers  everywhere. 
Every  Sabbath-school  ought  also  to 


have  a  Bible-class  or  two  for  the 
training  of  teachers.  The  meeting 
can  be  held  for  one  hour  and  a 
half  on  a  week-day  evening  at  the 
lecture-room,  or,  better  yet,  at  the 
superintendent's  house,  or  that  of  one 
of  the  teachers,  alternately.  It  is 
conducted  usually  by  the  superin- 
tendent, but  sometimes  by  the  pastor, 
or  by  one  of  the  teachers  who  can 
sustain  the  interest. — Pardee. 

883.  Causes  of  Pailure. — But  we 
are  met  at  this  point  with  a  stubborn 
and  overwhelming  fact,  viz.,  a  large 
proportion  of  all  these  meetings 
attempted  to  be  held  have  resulted 
in  a  failure,  and  have  been  abandoned, 
so  that  now  in  some  places  not  one 
school  in  ten  or  twenty  holds  such  a 
meeting.  With  such  an  experience 
we  can  never  ask  Sabbath-school 
teachers  to  try  the  experiment  on  the 
old  plan.  We  must  count  the  cost, 
and  Sabbath- school  men,  with  only 
an  hour  or  two  in  a  week  for  it, 
cannot  afford  to  make  mistakes  or 
failures.  Time  is  too  precious.  The 
great  practical  question  arises,  What 
are  the  causes  of  failure  ?  Is  it 
anything  inherent  in  these  meetings  ? 
or  is  it  in  the  wrong  mode  of  conduct- 
ing them  ?  After  a  most  careful 
investigation  of  the  subject,  especially 
during  the  last  fifteen  or  twenty 
years,  I  have  come  to  the  deliberate 
conclusion  that  it  is  owing  almpst 
entirely  to  the  wrong  plans  on  which 
they  are  conducted.  ^Tiat  have  been 
these  wrong  plans  ? 

I.  They  have  ordinarily  been 
conducted  on  the  Bible -class, 
question-book,  commentary-studying, 
and  theological  discussing  plans; 
and  on  those  plans,  in  at  least  nine 
cases  out  of  ten,  they  have  resulted, 
and  will  result,  in  failure,  whether 
in  the  hands  of  pastors  or  of  super- 
intendents. Teachers  do  not  gain 
enough  in  such  meetings  to  reward 
them  for  their  time  and  trouble  in 


848 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WORLD. 


coming,  and  consequently  they  cannot 
be  censured  for  non-attendance. 

II.    Another  plan   of    conducting 
them  is  in  the  form  of  lectures.    But 
on  this  plan,  not  even  an  expository 
lecture   has  prevented   the  meeting 
from  being  a  failure.     Occasionally 
a  pastor  or  a  superintendent,  with 
great     expository     powers,     and     a 
sprightly  manner  of  analysing  truth, 
and  a  personal  sympathy  with  the 
teachers   and  children,    can   sustain 
and  make  these  meetings  interesting 
and  profitable  on  this  plan,  and  to 
such  we  can  say — ''  God  bless  you — 
go  oti!"     But  we  cannot  afford  to 
recommend    any    plan    for    general 
adoption    with    such  a  prospect   of 
failure.    "What,  then,  must  be  done  ? 
"We  say  decidedly,  revolutionise  your 
plans,  and  meet  with  the  direct  aim 
and  purpose  of  heljnng  one  another 
in  yoiu"  work,  and  especially  on  the 
next  Sabbath's  lesson.     "What  then 
are  the  objects  of  teachers'  meetings, 
and  how  should  they  be  conducted  ? 
The   objects  appear  to  me  to  be — 
1.     To    get    all    the    teachers   well 
acquainted,  socially  and  religiously, 
and  as  teachers.     2.  To  combine  our 
mutual  confidences,  sympathies  and 
prayers.     3.  •Mutually  to  help  each 
other  and  relieve  each  other's  diffi- 
culties   by  conferring    together    on 
such  questions  as — how  best  to  secure 
and  retain  attention ; — how  to  ques- 
tion;— how  to  prepare  the   lesson, 
and  present  it,  and  teach  it; — how 
to  draw  lessons  of  instruction,  illus- 
trate   and    apply    truth  ; — how    to 
analyse  the  lesson,  lay  out  the  plan 
of  it,   and  break  it  up  into  small, 
convenient    parcels,    adapted  to   all 
capacities  from  the  infant  up  to  the 
adult  classes. — Pardee. 

^  884.  Beneficial  Eesiilts. — Con- 
sider what  results  might  be  expected, 
if  every  teacher  were  possessed  of  all 
suitable  qualifications,  and  were  to 
devote  himself  to  the  duties  of  his 


office  with  all  possible  diligence.     It 
may  be  safely  affirmed  that  we  have 
never  yet  seen,  that  we  have  scarcely 
yet  conjectured,  the  hundredth  part 
of  the   benefit  which  the   Sunday- 
school  system  might  be  made  to  pro- 
duce when    applied    under  all  the 
advantages  of  which  it  is   suscep- 
tible.    Its  adaptation  and  capacities 
for  improving  the  condition  of  the 
poor  are  admirable  and  incalculable. 
Take  the  aggregate  number  of  chil- 
dren and  teachers  at  the  conjectural 
statement  in  the  Introduction :  then 
suppose  that  these  myriads  of  young 
persons,  to  whom  the  religious  edu- 
cation of  a  million  poor  children  is 
entrusted,   were   all  fully  qualified 
for  their  office,  and  most  diligently 
employed  in  discharging  its  duties ; 
suppose    they  were   aU    persons   of 
exemplary  piety;    possessed   of   an 
enlarged     acquaintance     with     the 
whole  range  of  revealed  truth ;  well 
instructed  in  all  the  general  proprie- 
ties of  human  intercourse ;  endowed 
with  peculiar  aptitude  to  impart  in- 
struction to  the  youthful  mind,  and 
patient  in  their  temper :  with  such 
qualifications,    suppose  they  all  re- 
cognised as  the  ultimate  end  of  their 
labours,  the  formation  of  those  truly 
religious  habits  in  the  children  which 
should  be  connected  with  the  salva- 
tion of  their  immortal   souls,    and 
subordinate  to  this  the  improvement 
of  their  general  character,  so  as  ta 
render  them  kind,  gentle,  submis- 
sive, and  orderly:  then  conceive  of 
these  myriads  of  persons  thus  fitted 
for  their  work,  devoting  themselves 
to  their  weekly  business  of  instruc- 
tion with  intense  ardour  of  mind; 
entering  upon  the   duties   of  their 
office,   Sabbath  after  Sabbath,  with 
a  deeply  interested  heart ;  labouring, 
with  the  most  affectionate  and  un- 
wearied solicitude,  for  their  present 
and  eternal  welfare  ;  conducting  the 
whole  business  of  instruction,  with 
a   judicious  discrimination  of    the 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


349 


different  tempers  they  have  to  deal 
with;  wisely  applying  all  suitable 
rewards  and  punishments ;  punctual 
and  unwearied  in  their  attention ; 
dignified  yet  affable  in  their  man- 
ner; and  mingling  with  all  their 
efforts  importunate  prayer  to  Him 
who  alone  can  render  them  effectual : 
in  addition  to  this,  suppose  them  in 
their  behaviour  one  to  another  to  be 
universally  affectionate,  respectful, 
acting  in  perfect  harmony  for  the 
general  good,  and  animated  by  one 
mind  :  suppose,  I  say,  that  this  were 
universally  the  case  with  the  vast 
body  of  Sunday-school  teachers,  what 
results  might  we  not  expect  ?  When 
we  consider  the  adaptation  of  the 
system  itself  to  impart  religious 
instruction,  and  produce  religious 
impression:  when  we  consider  that 
religious  education  is  among  God's 
own  instituted  means  of  conversion  ; 
when  we  consider  how  willing  He  is 
to  pour  out  the  influence  of  His 
Spirit  upon  the  ordinances  which  He 
has  appointed;  especially  when  we 
add  to  this  the  good  effects  which 
have  already  resiilted  from  the  im- 
perfect application  of  the  system  ;  it 
is  scarcely  possible  to  conjecture 
what  a  glorious  revolution  would  be 
visible  in  the  habits  of  the  lower 
orders  of  society,  if  our  teachers 
were  universally  such  as  I  have  de- 
scribed. Instead  of  hearing  occa- 
sionally that  here  and  there  a  child 
was  under  religious  concern,  we 
should  have  the  pleasing  scene  be- 
fore us  of  great  numbers  inquiring 
the  way  to  Zion,  with  their  faces 
thitherward.  Instead  of  occasion- 
ally witnessing  external  reformation 
of  conduct  in  those  who  were  rude, 
untractable,  and  violent,  we  should 
often  receive  the  gratitude  of  parents 
rendered  happy  by  the  moral  altera- 
tion of  their  once  disobedient  and 
rebellious  offspring.  The  church 
and  the  world  would  both  together 
look  to  the  Sunday-school  institu- 


tion as  one  of  the  greatest  blessings 
ever  bestowed  upon  man. — J.  A. 
James. 

885.  Pastors  should  conduct 
them. — We  are  fully  convinced  that 
our  Sabbath- schools  will  never  rise 
to  what  they  ought  to  be,  until  our 
pastors  become  the  well-instructed 
leaders  in  this  great  work.  We  lay- 
men are  not  in  aU  cases  sufficiently 
reliable  nor  fitted  to  be  the  leaders. 
We  should  take  the  place  assigned 
to  us  by  the  Eev.  Dr.  Kirk,  of  Bos- 
ton, in  the  State  Sunday-school 
Convention  of  Massachusetts,  when 
he  said  he  *'  loved  to  recognise  Sab- 
bath-school teachers  as  lieutenants 
in  the  great  army  in  which  Christ 
Jesus  had  made  him  one  of  the 
captains."  Our  Sabbath  -  schools, 
churches,  and  ministers  must  all 
rise  together.  They  should  always 
keep  closely  together.  It  is  here 
that  Christians  find  a  good  work- 
ing field  under  the  training  of  the 
pastor,  who  is  the  pastor  of  the 
Sunday-school  as  well  as  of  the 
church.  It  is  here  that  the  Church 
finds  a  great  field  of  labour,  and  her 
largest  additions.  Some  pastors 
simply  give  their  Sunday-schools 
their  patronage  and  approbation. 
This  is  not  sufficient.  Much  more 
is  needed.  Active  co-operative  ser- 
vice and  direction  are  wanted.  Some- 
times pastors  must  needs  act  as 
superintendents  of  their  own  Sab- 
bath-schools, and  conduct  their  own 
teachers'  meeting  for  a  time,  until 
they  can  train  brethren,  and  fit 
them  to  be  superintendents.  It  is 
not  lecturing,  or  preaching  to,  on 
the  subject,  that  we  so  much  need, 
as  to  be  taught  how  to  superintend, 
how  to  prepare  the  lesson,  how  to 
visit,  what  to  teach,  how  to  teach 
and  lead  to  Christ,  and  how  to  con- 
duct teachers'  meetings.  The  Sab- 
bath-school enfolds  the  lambs  of  the 
flock.     The  pastor  should,  of  course, 


350 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


watch,  over  it  very  carefully  and 
very  tenderly.  Every  Sabbath  he 
should  at  least  walk  through  the 
school  to  encourage,  by  his  presence, 
the  weary  teachers  and  scholars  in 
their  work  of  faith  and  labour  of 
love.  Many  of  the  best  pastors  in 
our  land  make  this  an  invariable 
rule.  The  teachers  need  their  pas- 
tor's counsels  and  assistance  in  the 
school,  and  in  the  teachers'  meetings 
and  concerts  of  prayer,  as  well  as  in 
the  pulpit.  Here  he  will  find  his 
true  working  men  and  women,  and 
if  any  in  the  Church  have  especial 
claims  upon  him,  they  surely  have. 
We  need  our  pastors'  presence  and 
counsel  in  all  our  conventions  and 
gatherings  of  teachers.  They  are 
ex  officio  members  of  all.  We  also 
need  their  help  in  calling  out  the 
membership  of  the  churches;  in 
model  sermons  and  model  scriptural 
addresses,  and  teachings  to  children 
for  instruction  and  for  example.  In 
fact,  we  feel  that  we  must  rely  upon 
our  ministers  to  raise  up  and  make 
our  Sunday-schools  what  they  ought 
to  be— the  great  training-schools  of 
the  Church,  and  the  fitting  field  of 
labour  for  her  large  membership. 
As  a  matter  of  necessity,  and  as  a 
matter  of  propriety,  we  throw  our- 
selves as  Sabbath- school  workers 
upon  the  pastors,  and  call  earnestly 
upon  them  for  personal  aid  and 
comfort,  in  the  strong  assurance 
that  our  appeal  will  receive  a  warm 
and  favourable  response. — Pardee. 

886.  How  they  should  be  con- 
ducted,— The  way  to  conduct  these 
meetings  is,  to  go  to  work  naturally, 
systematically,  and  directly,  in  a 
common-sense  way,  to  accomplish 
these  grand  objects.  Suppose,  after 
singing  two  verses  of  an  appropriate 
hymn,  a  direct  prayer  of  two  or 
three  minutes,  and  one  verse  of 
Scripture  that  just  meets  the  case, 
the  leader  inquires  for  the  next  half 


hour  the  size,  regularity,  &c.,  of  the 
difierent  classes,  and  asks  counsel  to 
correct  irregularities.  In  this  way 
the  teachers  will  become  so  well  ac- 
quainted with  each  other's  classes 
that  they  can  intelligently  pray  for 
each  other.  Then  have  a  recess  of 
ten  or  fifteen  minutes  for  introduc- 
tion and  social  intercourse;  after 
which  another  half  hour  should  be 
devoted  to  making  inquiry  at  each 
teacher  for  the  various  best  thoughts 
of  the  lesson  for  them  to  use.  Let 
the  next  meeting  be  directed  to  the 
difficulties,  and  how  to  relieve  them, 
and  the  last  half  hour  to  asking  for 
tllustratio7is  for  the  week  or  month's 
lesson.  At  the  next  meeting  in- 
quire. Have  you  visited  your  scholars 
during  the  month,  and  what  have 
you  found  of  interest  in  your  visits  ? 
Then  devote  the  last  half  hour  to 
examples  and  ^j/«ms  of  teaching  dif- 
ferent verses  by  several  teachers. 
At  the  fourth  and  last  meeting  of 
the  month  inquire.  Is  there  any 
special  religious  interest  in  your  class  ? 
or.  Why  not  ?  and  lastly.  How  can 
you  apply  the  lesson  so  as  best  to 
make  a  saving  impression  ? — Pardee, 

887.  Indespensable  Points. — 
In  whatever  form  the  teachers'  meet- 
ings are  conducted  it  is  indispen- 
sable— 1.  That  the  conductor  feels  a 
sincere  respect  for  each  teacher,  and 
treats  his  opinions  with  candour. 
2.  That  the  conductor  shall  adapt 
his  questions  to  each  individual,  and 
ask  those  questions  with  real  cour- 
tesy and  consideration.  3.  It  is 
absolutely  necessary  that  the  con- 
ductor should  receive  all  replies  in  a 
life-like  manner,  with  due  respect, 
and  make  the  best  of  them.  If  the 
answers  are  not  well  received,  it  wiU 
close  the  lips  of  the  teachers.  They 
must  draw  together,  and  a  dull, 
prosy  conductor  will  check  them  all. 
There  is  great  value  in  the  com- 
bined   counsels    and  experience    of 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL  WOKLD. 


351 


almost  any  common  band  of  teachers 
if  fairly  and  fully  drawn  out.  It 
will  often  be  seen  tbat  "tbe  com- 
monest mind  has  thoughts  worthy  of 
the  rarest."  In  this  way  the  teachers' 
meetings  can  be  sustained  in  the 
hands  of  ordiaary  superintendents, 
and  will  become  the  most  attractive 
gatherings  in  the  whole  community. 
An  accomplished  young  lady  said  to 
me,  "  One  such  meeting  as  this  is 
worth  more  than  a  dozen  costly  New 
York  parties."  The  teachers  will 
regularly  attend,  for  they  need  the 
assistance  which  can  here  be  ob- 
tained. As  well  ask  a  brakesman 
to  run  a  locomotive,  or  a  spinner  to  I 
superintend  a  factory,  or  an  untaught 
man  to  teach  an  academy,  as  to  ask 
an  inexperienced  person,  or  even  a 
classical  scholar,  to  teach  Divine 
truth  when  no  one  has  taught  him 
hoio  to  do  it.  James  Gall  says,  most 
truly,  "  Education  is  the  highest  of 
all  the  sciences,  and  teaching  the 
most  important  of  all  the  arts." 
Teachers,  then,  need  training,  and 
the  teachers'  meeting  can  be  made 
one  of  the  most  valuable  means  of 
securing  it. — Pardee, 

888.  Other  Eequisites. — A  third 
requisite  is  time  and  lyrayerfxd  study. 
If  the  work  is  important,  and  the 
man  be  consecrated  to  it,  these  cer- 
tainly will  be  given.  A  fourth  re- 
quisite is  heroism  in  the  execution 
of  plans.  This  is  especially  needed 
when  a  new  enterprise  in  this  direc- 
tion is  commenced,  or  when  some  are 
beginning  to  ask,  "If  it  isn't  about 
time  to  close  up  for  the  winter," 
urging  that  it  is  best  to  close  while 
the  school  is  in  good  condition,  as 
though  there  was  a  "  good  condi- 
tion "  for  ceasing  to  give  instruction 
in  the  "Word  of  God.  Frederick  the 
Great  once  said,  "I  love  the  lineage 
of  heroes,  but  I  love  heroes  better." 
And,  in  the  successful  prosecution  of 
this  agency,  there  must  be  a  wise 


and  Christian  heroism  which  will 
show,  not  merely  the  fact  that  what 
has  been  done  can  be  done  again, 
but  the  additional  truth  that  Chris- 
tian men  can  adapt  themselves  to 
the  present  wants  and  emergencief 
of  society,  and  that  they  have  th^. 
will,  and,  with  God's  blessing,  the 
ability  to  meet  the  responsibilities, 
not  of  the  ^jas^,  but  of  the  present 
age. —  Tuckerman. 

889.  Practice  Lessons. — These 
are  of  the  utmost  importance,  and 
those  who  conduct  them  should  pre- 
pare carefully  for  the  exercise.  They 
shoidd  be  genuine  lessons.  Do  not 
take  a  class  of  adults  and  play  at 
giving  a  lesson.  There  is  always 
something  of  sham — of  stage  play 
in  such  an  exercise.  If  you  are  to 
teach  a  model  lesson,  take  scholars 
of  the  size  you  wish.  You  should 
by  all  means  have  a  good  bright 
class,  for  your  disadvantages  are 
very  great,  and  with  a  dull  class  you. 
will  fail  to  illustrate  your  point.  Do 
not  drill  your  class  beforehand.  Let 
it  be  a  fair  lesson  in  all  respects.  If 
you  are  to  give  an  infant -class 
lesson,  have  a  class  of  about  the  usual 
size  and  number.  Whatever  your 
class  may  be,  you  must  by  all  means 
avoid  embarrassing  them  at  the  out- 
set. Ask  questions  easily  answered 
at  the  beginning.  Let  your  first 
five  minutes  be  devoted  principally 
to  reassuring  them.  It  is  an  excel- 
lent plan  to  select  the  best  infant- 
class  teacher  in  the  place  where  the 
institute  is  held,  and  have  her — or 
him — give  a  model  lesson  with  her 
own  class.  Then  have  classes  of 
other  grades  taught  in  the  same  way. 
If  the  lesson  be  a  Bible-class  lesson, 
the  members  of  the  class  should  be 
bond  jide  Bible-class  scholars,  and 
not  the  picked  material  of  the  insti- 
tute. The  object  of  him  who  teaches 
a  practical  lesson  should  not  be  to 
show  how  well  he  can  teach,  but  to 


352 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


show  the  ordinary  teacher  ho-w  the 
every-day  difficulties  of  his  work 
can  be  treated  and  overcome.  A 
class  of  adults  is  by  all  odds  the 
most  difficult  to  teach  in  presence  of 
an  audience. — House. 

890.  Subjects  for  Lectures,  Ad- 
dresses, and  Essays. — Training  of 
Sunday-school  teachers ;  the  art  of 
illustrations ;    the   preparation  of  a 
lesson;  the  teacher's  spiritual  peepa- 
ration;    the  teacher's  work;    pecu- 
liarities of  child- nature ;  the  art  of 
asking  questions  ;    object  teaching ; 
blackboard  exercises ;    the  superin- 
tendent;   Sunday-school  literature; 
religious  experience  of  children ;  chil- 
dren's meetings ;  teachers'  meetings ; 
the  care  and  culture   of  converted 
children ;  the  infant  class ;  the  Bible 
class ;  opening  exercises,  or  general 
exercises ;  how  to  explain  the  Scrip- 
tures ;    exposition  of  the   parables 
the  design  of  the  Hoh^  Scriptures 
the   historical  books   of  the   Bible 
duty  of  the  Church  to  the  children 
prophecy  and  the  prophetic  books 
the  miracles  ;  the  epistles  ;  and  other 
subjects  relating  to  method  and  Scrip- 
ture study. — House. 


PEATEE-MEETINGS. 

891.  Teachers' Prayer-Meetings. 
— Suppose  the  school  to  commence 
at  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning.  Let 
the  prayer-meeting  for  teachers  com- 
mence at  exactly  half-past  eight,  or, 
which  is  better,  twenty  minutes  to 
nine.  Have  all  the  little  details  tho- 
roughly systematised,  so  that  not  a 
moment  be  lost.  Have  each  exer- 
cise brief.  A  prayer  of  five  minutes 
takes  just  one  quarter  of  the  entire 
twenty  minutes,  and  will  be  sure  to 
kill  it.  Let  the  prayers  not  exceed 
a  minute  and  a  half  to  two  minutes. 
If  a  word  of  exhortation  is  offered, 
let  it  be  pertinent  to  the  occasion.   A 


wandering  away  to  South  Africa  or 
Hindoostan  is  well  enough  at  the 
time  we  are  considering  those  distant 
countries  and  their  claims,  but  neither 
South  Africa  nor  Hindoostan  should 
be  considered  when  home  and  home 
interests  are  the  theme.  Keep  to 
the  subject  of  the  meeting.  Let  the 
prayers  be  specific.  Whatever  the 
object,  pray  for  the  object.  In  a 
school  that  we  know,  the  teachers' 
prayer-meeting  convenes  with  the 
precision  of  a  railroad  time-table,  at 
eight  o'clock,  forty  minutes.  The 
superintendent  is  there  ten  minutes 
before  the  time  for  opening.  The 
school  is  a  large  one,  and  of  the  forty- 
five  enrolled  teachers  forty  are  usually 
present.  Sometimes  ten,  fifteen,  or 
twenty  of  the  scholars  are  admitted 
as  a  pri\dlege.  A  single  verse  is 
sung,  then  two  very  short,  earnest 
prayers  are  offered.  The  superin- 
tendent now,  in  a  few  concentrated, 
pertinent,  burning  words,  presents  to 
the  meeting  some  special  Scriptural 
topic — usually  the  leading  thought 
of  the  day's  lesson.  He  urges  spe- 
cial attention  to  the  necessity  of  this 
day  labouring  for  the  salvation  of 
the  scholars.  I^ow  a  verse  ;  now  two 
more  prayers,  as  brief  and  fervent  as 
the  two  first;  then  two  verses,  fol- 
lowed by  one  prayer ;  then  a  single 
verse  of  praise  or  thanksgiving.  Here 
are  ten  distinct,  sharply  defined 
exercises,  yet  with  no  crowding,  no 
irreverent  haste,  and  yet  the  meeting 
only  eighteen  or  nineteen  minutes  in 
length.  Some  of  the  teachers  most 
prompt  and  regular  in  attendance 
are  those  who  live  the  furthest  from 
the  school,  and  who  have  to  make 
the  most  exertion  to  get  there.  Is  it 
any  wonder  that  the  manifest  pre- 
sence and  power  of  the  Divine  Spirit 
is  constantly  felt  in  this  school  ?  that 
one  after  another  of  the  wandering 
lambs  are  brought  back  to  the  fold  ? 
that  whole  classes  are  won  for  Jesus? 
that  all   the   teachers   regard  this 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


353 


morning-  prayer-meeting,  not  only 
as  the  most  precious  of  all  the  Sun- 
day-school services,  but  as  that  which 
croicns  and  completes  their  prepara- 
tion for  teaching  ? — House. 

892.  Youth's  Prayer-Meetings. 
— Come  at  the  hour  fixed.  Never 
sit  back  near  the  door ;  come  as  far 
forward  as  possible.  Come  with 
hearts  filled  with  the  spirit  of  prayer. 
Bring  some  imconverted  friend  with 
you.  Take  some  active  part  in  the 
meeting  if  possible.  Lead  in  prayer, 
if  the  Spirit  of  God  so  directs  you. 
Speak  or  sing  for  Jesus.  An  appro- 
priate verse  of  Scripture  will  always 
be  in  place.  A  verse  of  an  appro- 
priate hymn  always  helps  the  inter- 
est ;  start  it  if  you  are  familiar  with 
it.  Never  let  a  second  of  the  pre- 
cious hour  pass  unimproved.  Do 
your  duty.  During  the  meeting  re- 
member to  pray  often  for  the  imcon- 
verted  persons  present.  Have  you 
never  yet  come  to  Jesus  ?  Yield  to 
him  as  the  Holy  Spirit  influences 
you.  "  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  and  thou  shalt  be  saved." 
Groing  from  the  meeting  remember 
where  you  have  been. — House. 

893.  Early  Morning  Prayer-Meet- 
ings have  been  eminently  blessed  in 
producing  conviction  of  sin  in  the 
minds  of  young  people.  We  well 
remember,  one  snowy  new  year's 
morn,  a  meeting  of  this  character ; 
the  teachers  praying  with  their  chil- 
dren, and  urging  them  to  commence 
the  new  year  by  dedicating  them- 
selves unto  God;  the  children  sub- 
dued into  silence ;  whilst,  ever  and 
anon,  a  fresh  burst  of  weeping  would 
break  the  solemn  stillness  that  per- 
vaded the  lowly  schoolroom.  It 
was  a  time  to  be  remembered,  for 
God  was  with  us ;  and  many,  who 
then  wept  for  the  first  time,  in  the 
course  of  that  week  gave  their  hearts 
to  God,  and  are  still  serving  Him 


among  His  people ;  adorning  the 
doctrine  of  God  their  Saviour  by  a 
consistent  walk  and  conversation. — 
Davids. 

894.  Children's  Prayer-meetings. 
— "What  shall  we  do  with  our 
children  after  their  conversion?"  Lg. 
answering  this  question  some  churches 
have  adopted,  in  a  modified  form, 
the  Methodist  class-meeting,  and 
have  placed  the  children  in  societies, 
with  leaders  over  them.  Before  us 
lies  a  small  pamphlet  entitled,  "  The 
Faithful  Band  of  the  Seventh  Pres- 
byterian Church,  Chicago,  organised 
June  12,  1864."  From  its  pages  we 
extract  as  follows: — "We  ask  ad- 
mission to  our  churches  for  those  who 
we  believe  give  evidence  of  that  in- 
ward change  of  heart  which  is  the 
title-page  to  salvation,  and  are  met 
with  the  argument  that  the  appli- 
cants are  young,  that  they  can  not 
comprehend  the  great  change,  that 
their  fears  may  have  been  awakened, 
their  feelings  practised  upon,  their 
sympathies  all  stirred  up  by  the 
story  of  the  Cross,  and  that  they  do 
not  appreciate  their  true  position, 
wait  till  they  give  evidence  that 
their  conversion  is  permanent,  &c. 
Wait?  Where?  Out  in  the  cold 
world  ?  Gather  the  sheep  all  safely 
into  the  fold  and  leave  the  lambs 
without  ?  To  meet  this  emergency 
the  'Faithful  Band'  had  its  be- 
gianing.  Its  covenant  is  simple  and 
within  the  comprehension  of  all,  and 
we  believe  that  its  faithful  obser- 
vance will  prove  of  incalculable 
benefit  to  those  who  comply  with  its 
every  requirement.  Its  educational 
feature  is  one  of  paramount  import- 
ance. Christians  too  much  neglect 
reading  the  Scriptures.  Had  it  been 
incorporated  into  their  young  life 
history  that  one  chapter  of  God's 
Word  must  be  carefully  perused  each 
day,  under  all  circumstances,  the 
habit  would  have  been  so  formed 


354 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


that  its  omission  in  riper  years  would 
bring  its  own  rebuke ;  the  morning 
and  evening  prayer  would  become  as 
much  a  matter  of  necessity  as  the 
morning  and  evening  meal.  The 
promise  to  confess  Christ  every  op- 
portunity is  a  standing  reproof  to 
those  whose  voices  are  never  heard 
where  God's  people  assemble  to  in- 
voke blessings  from  the  Almighty, 
and  the  prayer -meetings  of  a  quarter 
of  a  century  hence  shall  be  made 
precious  to  the  soul  in  the  exercise 
of  that  early  Christian  education 
which  eliminates  the  Jesus-taught 
doctrine  that  '  men  ought  always  to 
pray,  and  never  to  faint.'  The  long- 
continued  practice  of  a  faithful  ob- 
servance of  our  simple  covenant,  in- 
terwoven through  the  growing  years, 
will  so  infuse  the  habit  of  regularity 
into  the  system  that  the  cloud  '^  no 
larger  than  a  man's  hand,"  shall  not 
become  the  subterfuge  behind  which 
the  soul  can  satisfy  itself  for  con- 
tinued, or  even  occasional  absence 
from  the  churchward  paths  which 
lead  into  the  courts  of  the  Lord. 
We  do  not  claim  to  hold  all  who 
seek  admission  to  our  band.  We 
cannot  expect  it.  If  the  Christ- 
chosen  band  of  twelve,  gathered  from 
the  shores  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee, 
presented  to  the  world  a  treacherous- 
hearted  Judas,  ive,  children,  certainly 
cannot  attain  to  perfection ;  yet  we 
do  urge  that  we  are  sowing  the  seeds 
of  salvation  deeply  in  the  heart  with 
our  one  chapter  a  day  and  one  verse 
a  week,  and  we  have  the  assurance 
that  the  Word  of  the  Lord  shall  not 
return  to  Him  void.  The  lesson  we 
desire  to  inculcate  is  this :  That  this 
band  may  ever  prove  an  effective 
auxiliary  to  the  Church,  a  fruitful 
nursery  of  the  Lord,  from  which 
shaU  be  transplanted  germs  of  a 
vigorous  growth,  whose  pure  lives 
and  Christian  graces  shall  adorn  and 
embellish  the  house  of  our  God. 
*^  Order  of  Exercises. — 1.  Selection 


of  Hymns ;  2.  Opening  Song ;  3. 
Prayer ;    4.    Singing ;    5.    Reading ; 

6.  Singing;  7.  Covenant;  8.  Prayer; 
9.  Twenty-third  Psalm;  10.  Silent 
Prayer;  11.  Singing;  12.  Selections; 
13.  Remarks ;  14.  Admissions ;  15. 
Lord's  Prayer  ;  16.  Closing  Song. 

"  Covenant. — 1.  We  have  promised 
to  love  the  Lort)  Jesus  Cheist  ;  2. 
We  believe  God,  for  His  Son's  sake, 
has  forgiven  our  sins  ;  3.  We  hereby 
covenant  to  live  for  Chkist  ;  4.  We 
will  try  and  discharge  our  whole 
duty;  5.  We  will  read  one  chapter 
in  the  Bible  every  day ;  6.  We  will 
pray  to  God  morning  and  evening ; 

7.  We  will  urge  others  to  come  to 
Jesus  ;  8.  We  will  confess  Christ 
every  opportunity ;  9.  We  will  attend 
church  and  prayer-meeting  ;  10. 
We  will  keep  this  covenant,  God 
helping  us. 

'■^Penalty. — The  name  of  any  mem- 
ber of  this  band  who  shaU  violate 
any  of  the  articles  of  this  solemn 
covenant  shall  be  erased  with  a 
pencil  till  a  return  of  the  erring  one 
to  duty,  when  the  erasure  shall  be 
cancelled  ;  and  while  the  rubber 
removes  the  mark,  yet  leaves  the 
indentation  of  the  pencil,  so  shall  it 
be  a  reminder  that,  though  neglect 
of  duty  may  be  atoned  for  by  repent- 
ance, it  leaves  a  stain  which  shall 
often  be  to  the  conscience  a  weU- 
spring  of   regret.      Be    faithful, 

THElSr,    TO   EVERY  DUTY. 

^ '  Pledge. — The  pledge  is  in  the  five 
lines  following : — 

We'll  try  to  prove  faithful, 
We'll  try  to  prove  faithful, 
We'll  tiy  to  prove  faithful, 
Faithful,  faithful, 
Till  we  all  shall  meet  above. 

Out  of  two  hundred  and  fifty 
children  enrolled  in  the  band,  scarce- 
ly half-a-dozen  have  proved  recreant, 
while  the  majority  have  been  active 
and  successful  in  gathering  others 
into  the  Church  and  to  the  Saviour." 
— House. 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


895.  Children  must  be  taught  to 
Pray. — Children,   even    little    chil- 
dren, need  to  be  taught  lioio  to  pray. 
We   all  need  to  be  taught  to  pray 
*'  as  John  also  taught  his  disciples." 
This  is  especially  true  with  children, 
because  the  prayers  of  the  minister, 
or  of  the  father  around  the  family 
circle,  are,  in  most  cases,  examples 
which  a  child  will  not  try  to  follow. 
The  words  and  expressions  are,  for 
the  most  part,   quite  unintelligible 
to  children,  and   consequently  they 
must  be  taught  in  a  different  way. 
We  must  call  the  attention  of  a  child 
to   the  particular  things  which  he 
wants,  or  ought  to  thank  God  for, 
the  particular  sins  which  would  be 
in  his  "  child's  confession,"  and  just 
the  things  he  wants  to  ask  God  for 
in  his  own  language,  every  day  and 
hour,  mingled  with  adoration    and 
praise.      Children's  prayer-meetings 
are  well  adapted  to  this.     Some  of 
our    Sabbath- schools    hold    such    a 
meeting  at  the  close  of  each  after- 
noon session.     A  gentleman  who  is 
adapted  to  the  work  leads  off  the 
little  boys  who  choose  to  attend,  and 
a  motherly  lady  goes  with  the  girls 
into  another  room.     We  have  known 
eighty  to  accompany  such  a  one  into 
the  room,  and  as  many  as  half  the 
number  have    voluntarily    followed 
her  in  prayers  of  two  or  three  or  four 
simple  petitions  for  just   what  the 
little  girls  feel  that  they  want.     The 
meeting  opens  with   singing   a  fa- 
miliar hymn,  and  then  a  few  appro- 
priate verses  and  remarks,  fitted  to 
kindle  devotion  in  the  little  hearts, 
and  then   the  little   prayers   follow 
freely   and     almost     spontaneously. 
They  soon  learn  to  love  to  pray,  and 
to   pray  in  real  faith   too,  for   the 
whole  life  of  a  Httle  child  is  a  life  of 
faith.     Of  course,  it  will  all  depend 
iipon  the   manner    in  which    these 
meetings  are  conducted,  just  as  it  is 
with  any  other  meeting  or  religious 
service.     In  good  hands  they  prove 


to  be  eminently  successful  and  de- 
lightful. They  teach  the  children 
how  to  pray,  lead  them  into  the 
habit  of  praying  with  the  heart  and 
voice,  and  with  each  other,  and  the 
influence  on  them,  on  their  families, 
and  on  the  Sabbath-school,  is  in 
every  way  most  blessed.  Let  the 
exercises  of  such  meetings  be  short, 
natural  and  simple,  with  freedom 
and  not  constraint.  A  half  or  three- 
quarters  of  an  hour  is  long  enough, 
as  they  should  not  be  prolonged. 
They  ought  to  be  universally  adopted. 
— Pardee, 

896.  Dr.   Alexander   and    Chil- 
dren's   Prayer  -  Meeting.  —  While 
pursuing   my   studies    in  the   Free 
Chui'ch     Theological     Seminary    in 
Edinburgh,  in  the  winter  of  '60  and 
'61,  it  was  my  privilege  to  become 
acquainted  with  the  Eev.  W.  Lind- 
sey  Alexander,   D.D.,   one    of   the 
most  learned  and  prominent  clergy- 
man in  Scotland.     Peeling  that,  at 
least  for  my  own  soul's  sake,  T  must 
be  doing  something  for  the  Master,  I 
requested  Dr.  Alexander  to  find  me 
humble  employment  in  mission-work 
in  Sabbath- school  teaching.   He  sent 
me  down  to  Musselburgh,  where  I 
found  a  Sabbath  attendance  of  only 
thirty  or  forty  people.     But  among 
them  were    some    earnest    praying 
Christians,  who   longed  to   see   the 
aged    and    young    looking    to    the 
Saviour.     They  soon   began  to   cry 
most  earnestly  to  God  for  an  abun- 
dant outpouring  of  His  Holy  Spirit ; 
and  in  three    weeks   that     church, 
holding  seven  or  eight  hundred,  was 
nightly  filled,  and  it  is  safe  to  say 
that  over  a  hundred  were  rejoicing  in 
a  new  found  hope.      Among  them 
were    quite   a  number   of    childi'en 
under  twelve  years  of  age.     But  Dr. 
Alexander  had  been  very  unbelieving 
with  regard  to  the  permanent  results 
of  our  American  revivals,  especially 
when   connected  with  young  chil- 


356 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


dren.  Hence,  as  this  was  one  of  the 
chiirches  over  which  he  was  re- 
garded as  the  Bishop,  he  became 
somewhat  alarmed  when  he  heard 
that  there  was  a  real  ' '  American 
revival"  within  his  own  bounds  of 
jurisdiction.  Only  a  few  weeks  be- 
fore, he  had  been  discoursing  to  his 
staid,  fashionable  congregation  in 
Edinburgh,  against  "Revival  ex- 
citements." Of  course,  therefore,  he 
made  it  his  first  business  to  look  after 
his  few  wandering  sheep  in  Mussel- 
burgh. Accordingly,  one  evening, 
with  his  usual  dignity,  he  appeared 
in  the  church.  After  the  preaching 
service  was  through,  he  was  re- 
quested to  remain  to  the  inquiry 
meeting  for  conversation  and  prayer 
with  those  who  were  seeking  the 
Saviour.  He  had  before  said, 
*'  These  revivals  may  do  well  for  the 
excitable  Americans,  but  we  need 
never  expect  to  see  anything  of  the 
kind  among  us  '  canny '  Scotch."  I 
was  not,  therefore,  much  surprised  to 
see  him  walk  coldly  out  of  the 
church.  That  night  the  house  had 
been  crowded  so  full  that  the  chil- 
dren could  not  find  standing  room, 
and  some  of  them  had  thus  been 
driven  to  the  vestry,  where,  of  their 
own  accord,  without  the  presence  of 
any  adults,  they  had  organised  a 
children's  prayer  meeting.  When, 
therefore.  Dr.  Alexander  went  for 
his  hat  and  overcoat,  which  he  had 
left  in  the  vestry,  he  was  surprised 
to  find  it  taken  possession  of  for  a 
children's  "prayer  meeting."  He 
stood  and  listened,  all  unobserved,  to 
their  simple,  artless  petitions,  till,  as 
it  were  in  an  instant,  all  his  unbelief 
had  vanished.  The  Lord  was 
pleased,  in  a  few  moments,  to  do 
more,  than  by  any  human  argu- 
ments, to  convince  that  good  and 
great  man  that  it  was  possible  for 
Httle  children  in  numbers,  to  be 
taught  by  the  Holy  Spirit  to  ofier  the 
prayer  of  faith  in  Jesus'  name.     He 


did  not  go  off  to  Edinburgh  that 
night  as  he  expected,  but  he  soon  had 
hold  of  my  hand  again,  and  with  a 
quivering  lip  and  tearful  eye  he 
said :  ' '  The  Lord  has  convinced  me, 
in  that  children's  prayer^  meeting y 
that  this  is  the  work  of  His  own 
Holy  Spii'it.  JSTo  one  but  God  could 
teach  those  children  to  pray  as  I 
heard  them  pray  to-night.  I  do  now 
believe  that  little  children  can  be 
converted^  From  that  moment  the 
extensive  influence  of  that  distin- 
guished minister  was  in  favour  of 
the  conversion  of  children.  It  is 
safe  to  say  that  through  him  that 
children's  prayer  meeting  was  an 
indirect  means  of  the  conversion,  not 
of  hundreds,  but  of  thousands  of 
souls.  For  Dr.  Alexander  was  the 
agent,  under  God,  of  opening  the 
way  for  extensive  revivals  among- 
children  and  adults  in  difierent  parts, 
of  Scotland,  where  multitudes  were 
led  to  Christ.— i^ey.  E.  P,  Ham- 
mond. 


SINaiNa  AND  MUSIC. 

897.  Importance  of  singing. — 
We  give  singing  a  high  place  in  the 
exercises  of  a  Sunday-school,  as  a 
means  of  grace.  Most  children  can 
be  taught  to  sing.  They  should  be 
taught  to  do  this  from  notes.  A 
great  advantage  is  enjoyed  in  the 
present  day  by  having  music  and 
hymns  printed  on  the  same  page. 
Let  teachers  "spare  no  efibrt,"  says 
Dr.  Todd,  "to  have  all  the  children 
possess  this  high  enjoyment.  No 
efforts  will  result  in  greater  effect ; 
children,  once  taught,  love  to  sing. 
Hardly  anything  can  add  more  to 
the  enjoyment  of  a  being  made  up 
of  affections  and  reason,  as  men 
are."  The  school,  or  the  class, 
would  thus  be  the  Teacher's  Choir. 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOBLD. 


357 


When  singing  is  intelligent,  artistic, 
congregational,  and  solemn,  it  will 
"be  edifying.  Such  music  diverts 
our  service  from  the  seliish  exercise 
into  common  praise,  and  gives  a 
heavenly  experience  to  the  earthly 
sanctuary. — Dr.  Steel. 

898.  Sabbath- school  Music. — 
This  is  a  very  important  and  attrac- 
tive part  of  the  exercises  of  a  good 
Sunday-school,  if  rightly  conducted. 
Good,  pure,  simple  music,  such  as 
children  love  to  sing,  and  words  em- 
bod}T.ng  the  best  Christian  senti- 
ments and  feelings,  should  always 
be  chosen.  There  is  such  an  abun- 
dance of  music  at  the  present  time, 
of  an  elevating,  excellent  character, 
that  there  is  no  excuse  for  adopting 
that  which  is  doubtful.  Some  of  the 
holiest  Christian  influences  are  car- 
ried weekly  into  little  hearts  and 
numerous  families,  by  these  sweet 
songs  of  the  children.  It  is  well 
worth  while  for  every  Sunday-school 
to  obtain  a  good  supply  of  the  best 
music,  such  as  the  children  like ; 
and  they  often  love  to  meet  on  some 
afternoon  or  evening  for  the  purpose 
of  practising  their  ^usic  with  their 
kind-hearted  leader.  It  is  the  re- 
mark of  a  wise  man :  "  Let  me  make 
the  ballads  of  a  nation,  and  I  care 
not  who  makes  its  laws."  How 
vastly  important,  then,  it  is  for  the 
future  well-being  of  our  youth  that 
they  be  well  supplied  with  the 
choicest  words  and  music  to  praise 
God  in  these  little  assemblies!  A 
few  words  of  caution  may  be  appro 
priate.  Sing  no  more  than  that 
which  will  be  truly  worship  and  de- 
votional on  the  Lord's- day.  Intro- 
duce each  new  hymn  with  great  care 
to  make  the  children  understand  the 
true  sentiment  before  they  sing  it. 
Consequently,  not  more  than  one 
new  hymn  should  be  presented  to  the 
school  on  any  one  Sabbath.  Let  the 
practice  in  hymn-singing  take  place 


on  a  week-day,  or  so  as  not  to  inter- 
rupt the  worship  of  the  Sabbath- 
school.  Never  should  singing  be 
introduced  as  an  entertainment  or 
diversion  in  the  Sabbath-school,  or 
made  a  hobby.  Sacred  music  has  a 
higher,  holier  mission.  The  hymns 
should  be  appropriate  to  the  circum- 
stances and  occasion,  and  selected 
in  conformity  to  the  Bible-lesson  of 
the  day.  There  is  a  great  amount 
of  music  and  hymns  introduced  into 
our  schools  of  a  very  improper  cha- 
racter. The  hymns  are  nothing  but 
a  jingle  of  nonsense,  and  the  music 
sometimes  has  very  doubtful  asso- 
ciations. All  this  should  be  avoided 
most  carefully. — Pardee, 

899.  Children  like  Singing. — 
Children  without  exception  are  fond 
of  good  music.  It  has  become,  in 
the  last  few  years,  one  of  the  most 
powerful  means  for  bringing  chil- 
dren into  the  Sabbath-school.  In 
the  mission-schools  of  our  large  cities, 
a  great  many  of  the  scholars  are 
attracted  to  the  school  in  the  first 
place  by  the  music.  The  teachers 
literally  sing  them  in.  Children, 
whose  parents  for  some  reason  do  not 
allow  them  to  enter  the  school,  are 
often  seen  hanging  with  longing  ears 
about  the  doors  and  windows,  listen- 
ing to  the  sweet  music,  and  some- 
times even  braving  punishment  ra- 
ther than  forego  the  pleasure.  Good 
music  is  one  of  the  most  important 
means  of  bringing  children  into  the 
Sabbath-school,  and  of  keeping  them 
there ;  while  great  care  should  be 
taken  not  to  employ  music  in  the 
school  which  is  irreverent,  or  unde- 
votional,  or  which  has  unworthy  and 
degrading  associations,  care  is  still 
more  needed  on  the  other  hand  that 
it  should  be  of  that  living  and  at- 
tractive sort  which  the  children  love, 
and  in  which  they  can  join ;  any 
tune  or  any  hymn,  which  after  fair 
trial  it  is  found  the  children  do  not 


358 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL  WOELD. 


take  to,  had  better  be  dropped  for 
something  which  they  will  take  to. 
—Dr.  Hart. 

900.  Children  benefited  by  Sing- 
ing.— When  we  have  persuaded  a 
Sunday-school  child  to  learn  and 
love  Sunday-school  hymns  and  Sun- 
day-school music,  we  feel  as  if  we 
had  taught  him  the  use  of  a  faculty, 
the  employment  of  which  would  bring 
God  into  his  thoughts,  solace  his 
sadness,  and  accustom  him  to  the 
contemplation  of  "joys  unseen,  and 
hopes  unrealised."  Wc  suppose  it 
will  be  generally  admitted,  that  chil- 
dren who  sing,  or  love  to  hear  sing- 
ing, retain  for  a  long  time  the  im- 
pression which  music  makes  on  their 
mind ;  and  it  is  obvious,  that  the 
impression  which  words  make,  when 
associated  with  music,  are  propor- 
tionally deep  and  permanent.  Hence 
it  is  that  we  give  singing  a  high 
place  in  the  exercises  of  a  Sunday- 
school,  as  a  means  of  grace. — Packard 

901.  Improvements  in  Singing. 
— In  nothing,  probably,  has  there 
been  a  greater  change  in  Sabbath- 
schools  than  in  the  music.  I  refer 
not  merely  to  the  character  and 
style  of  the  music  used,  but  to  the 
position  it  holds,  and  the  importance 
attached  to  it,  as  one  of  the  essential 
and  potent  agencies  of  the  institu- 
tion in  accomplishing  its  beneficent 
results.  I  recollect  well  the  first 
Sabbath-school  I  ever  attended,  and 
the  grim  and  ponderous  tune  to 
which  we  youngsters  were  solemnly 
exhorted  to  trail  our  voices,  while 
a  hymn  of  equally  unattractive 
character  dragged  its  slow  length 
along.  The  singing  was  a  religious 
duty,  to  which  wc  were  expected  to 
give  heed,  and  which  we  tried  faith- 
fully to  discharge,  as  we  would  have 
tried  to  submit  cheerfully  to  an  am- 
putation, had  circumstances  rcquii'cd 
it,  or  as  we  would  have  walked  to 


the  school,  if  necessary,  barefoot 
through  the  snow,  as  one  boy  actu- 
ally did  rather  than  forego  its  privi- 
leges. Yes !  the  singing  of  the 
hymns  was  a  solemn  part  of  the 
programme,  to  be  gone  through 
without  flinching.  13ut  as  an  ex- 
pression of  gladness,  as  an  act  of 
devout  joy,  as  a  service,  the  mere  an- 
nouncement of  which  should  awaken 
all  over  the  school  anticipations  of 
lively  delight,  the  thing  was  un- 
known. This  was  altogether  a  dis- 
covery of  a  later  day,  the  full 
knowledge  and  appreciation  of  which 
have  not  even  yet  reached  many 
schools. — Dr.  Hart. 

902.  All  may  Learn  to  Sing. — 
Till  within  a  short  time,  it  has  been, 
an  opinion  almost  universal,  that 
but  a  few  could  be  taught  to  sing  ; 
that  the  talent  for  music  was  a  pecu- 
liar gift  of  nature,  entrusted  to  a 
favoured  few.  Parents  have  decided, 
unless,  indeed,  their  child  learned  to 
sing  almost  by  inspiration,  that  their 
children  had  no  taste  for  music.  The 
opinion  has  become  so  prevalent, 
that  but  a  very  small  part  of  our 
congregations  even  pretend  to  sing^ 
or  suppose  themselves  capable.  Nor 
are  they  capable,  at  the  present  time 
and  under  the  present  circumstances ; 
but  would  it  have  been  so,  had. 
proper  pains  been  taken  when  they 
were  children  ?  How  much  pains  do 
parents  take  to  teach  a  child  to  speak 
correctly  ?  Had  children  the  oppor- 
tunity of  hearing  speaking,  and  of 
being  taught  to  speak  only  as  they 
have  opportunity  to  learn  to  sing,, 
would  any  more  be  able  to  talk,  than 
arc  able  now  to  sing  ?  I  shall  not 
contend  that  every  child  who  can  be 
taught  to  speak,  might  be  taught  to. 
sing ;  but  I  believe  the  exceptions 
would  be  very  rare. — Todd. 

903.  Both  Tunes  and  Words 
should  be  Good. — Nor  is  it  necessary, 
in  order  to  make  the  music  attractive^ 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WORLD. 


359 


to  children,  that  the  words  should 
be  unmeaning  doggerel,  or  that  they 
should  be  low  and  trifling,  or  that 
they  should  be  flippant  and  profane. 
Children  undoubtedly  will  sing  such 
pieces  with  great  gusto.  But  the 
superintendent  who  allows  their 
minds  and  their  tastes  to  be  de- 
bauched with  such  trash,  does  a 
great  wrong.  A  great  deal  of  music 
is  sung  in  our  Sabbath-schools  that 
may  be  very  fit  for  a  pic-nic,  or  for 
the  circus,  but  that  has  no  business 
I  in  the  Sabbath-school,  and  is  utterly 
unsuited  for  a  religious  service. 
The  words,  equally  with  the  music, 
may  be  cheerful,  gladsome,  jubilant, 
suitable  for  the  expression  of  lively 
emotion,  such  as  is  common  to  chil- 
dren, and  yet  not  savour  in  the 
slightest  degree  of  slang.  In  the 
music  of  the  Sabbath- school,  no 
tunes  and  no  words  should  be 
tolerated,  the  manifest  tendency  of 
which  is  not  to  produce,  not  only 
devout  feeling,  but  a  certain  refine- 
ment and  gentleness  of  feeling.  A 
child  may  be  active,  playful,  buoyant, 
brimming  over  with  life,  and  yet  not 
be  rude.  We  feel  instinctively  that 
certain  tunes  and  certain  words  are 
rude  and  unmannerly.  They  are  fit 
only  for  clowns.  Tet  the  remedy 
for  this  extreme  is  not  to  go  ofi*  into 
the  dreary  solemnities  of  long-metre. 
It  is  certainly  possible  to  have  our 
Sabbath-school  music  buoyant  and 
exhilarating,  so  as  to  be  a  source  of 
the  highest  gratification  to  the  chil- 
dren, and  yet  conducive  to  refinement 
as  well  as  devotion. — Dr.  Hart. 

904.  How  to  Improve  the  Singing. 
— Music  has  been  neglected.  How 
are  we  to  improve  it  ?  A  well- 
skilled  divine  has  suggested  three 
thing : — 1.  The  religious  view  of  the 
subject,  or  the  appeal  to  every  wor- 
shipper's conscience.  2.  The  refine- 
ment, or  perhaps  creation  of  a  musi- 
cal taste  among  the  people.     And  3. 


The  cultivation  of  art.  These  are 
rules  applicable  to  ourselves,  and  if 
observed,  would  do  much  to  place 
our  praise  in  its  right  position  in 
public  worship.  There  is  better 
education  both  in  our  pulpits  and 
pews  on  other  subjects,  and  there 
ought  to  be  on  this.  A  refined  mind 
is  satisfied  and  sanctified  by  a  sacred 
music  that  is  artistic  as  well  as  de- 
votional. We  are  aware  of  the  diffi- 
culty which  those  feel  who  have 
neglected  music  in  youth,  to  begin 
improvement  in  riper  years ;  yet 
even  they  may  be  appealed  to  for 
the  sake  of  their  families.  The 
young  are  the  ChurcKs  hope.  Among 
them  secular  music  has  many  vota- 
ries accomplished  in  the  art,  who 
are,  sad  to  relate !  most  deficient  in 
the  music  of  the  Church. — Dr.  Steel. 

905.  "Wesley  on  Singing. — The 
Methodists  seldom  fail  to  get  all 
their  children  to  sing  their  simple 
music.  The  following  is  from  the 
pen  of  Wesley:  ^' About  three 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the  Lord's 
day,  April  20,  1788,  I  met  between 
nine  hundred  and  a  thousand  of  the 
children  belonging  to  our  Sunday 
schools  in  Bolton.  I  never  saw  such 
a  sight  before.  They  were  all  ex- 
actly clean,  as  well  as  plain  in  their 
apparel.  All  were  serious  and  well- 
behaved  ;  many,  both  boys  and  girls, 
had  as  beautiful  faces  as,  I  believe, 
England  or  Europe  can  afford. 
When  they  all  sung  together,  and 
none  of  them  out  of  tune,  the  melody 
was  beyond  that  of  any  theatre. 
And  what  is  best  of  all,  many  of 
them  truly  fear  God,  and  some  re- 
joice in  His  salvation.  These  are  a 
a  pattern  to  all  the  town.  And  this 
I  must  avow,  there  is  not  such  a  set 
of  singers  in  any  of  the  Methodist 
congregations  in  the  three  kingdoms 
as  in  this  town.  There  cannot  be ;  for 
we  have  near  a  hundred  such  trebles, 
boys  and  girls,  selected  out  of  our 


360 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


Sunday  schools,  and  accurately 
aught,  as  are  not  to  be  found  to- 
gether in  any  chapel,  cathedral,  or 
music-room,  within  the  four  seas. 
Besides  the  spirit  with  which  they 
sing,  and  the  beauty  of  many  of 
them,  so  suits  the  melody,  that  I 
defy  any  to  exceed  it,  except  the  sing- 
ing of  angels  in  our  Father's  house." 

906.  Time  allotted  to  Singing. 
— What  portion  of  time  should  be 
allotted  to  singing  ?  No  rule  can  be 
laid  down.  It  should  be  remembered 
that  singing  is  worship,  is  also  one 
of  the  teacher's  most  important  aids, 
useful  at  times  to  precede,  thus  pre- 
paring the  mind  and  heart  for  the 
reception  of  truth  by  inducing  the 
docile  spirit,  and  at  times  most  effec- 
tive to  follow  the  stated  lesson,  and 
fasten,  as  with  iron  bands,  truth 
already  communicated.  In  its  em- 
ployment for  either  purpose,  a  wise 
discrimination  must  be  exercised, 
and  for  this  exercise  it  is  desirable 
that  the  superintendent  should  be 
himself  a  singer.  If  the  subject  of 
his  remarks  be  faith,  he  can  in  no 
way  better  impress  his  thought  than 
by  a  song  of  faith  ;  if  love,  than  by 
a  song  of  love.  But  the  song  must 
be  impromptu ;  not  actually  im- 
promptu— few  have  always  an  ap- 
propriate song  at  command  —  but 
apparently  so.  Knowing  beforehand 
the  line  of  his  remarks,  he  should 
select  and  locate  through  his  dis- 
course such  hymns  as  will  aid  him 
in  impressing  his  thoughts  with 
the  same  prayerful  care  which  he 
exercises  in  the  preparation  of  the 
remarks  themselves.  There  must  be 
no  running,  no  bustle,  no  delay. 
The  song  must  be  well  up  from  a 
full  heart  —  must  belong  to  his 
thought,  and  be  a  part  and  parcel 
of  it. — House. 

907.  Especially  Needful  for  In- 
fant-class,— In  speaking  of  infant- 
schools,   I  referred  to  the  physical 


activity  of  the  young,  and  the  neces- 
sity of  adapting  our  school  exercises 
to  the  wants  of  their  nature.  The 
same  idea  should  govern  us  in  the 
selection  of  school  music.  The  music 
suited  to  persons  advanced  in  life  is 
no  more  suited  to  children,  than 
would  be  the  measured  and  solemn 
gait  of  these  aged  persons.  Child- 
hood is  jubilant  and  quick  in  its 
emotions.  The  lively  treble  of  its- 
voice  is  only  an  index  of  the  soul 
that  speaks  through  it.  If  music  i& 
really  to  take  hold  of  the  feelings  of 
children,  it  must,  in  the  first  place, 
be  simple.  But,  next  to  this,  and 
paramount  above  every  other  qual- 
ity, it  must  be  quick  and  lively 
in  its  general  movement.  It  is 
not  necessary,  however,  to  this  life 
and  simplicity,  that  the  music 
should  be  trifling,  I  have  seeik 
schools  where,  in  the  attempt  to  avoid 
humdrum,  the  music  had  run  into- 
the  opposite  extreme,  and  had  de- 
generated into  mere  slang.  There  is 
in  some  tunes  a  measure  of  softness 
and  gentleness,  in  which  children 
greatly  delight,  and  which  is  per- 
fectly compatible  with  liveliness.  It 
is  impossible  to  look  over  a  congre- 
gation of  children  singing  a  tune  of 
this  kind,  and  not  read  in  their  faces 
an  expression  of  lively  and  yet  sub- 
dued pleasure,  as  far  removed  on  the 
one  side,  from  the  noisy  turbulence 
sometimes  seen,  as  from  the  dull, 
lifeless,  dragging  monotony  often 
seen  on  the  other.  Children  will  in- 
deed join  in  with  this  noisy  vocife- 
ration. It  is  easy,  and  they  rather 
like  it.  But  it  does  not  give  them 
that  inward  satisfaction  and  plea- 
sure which  they  derive  from  singing 
tunes  where  the  predominant  ex- 
pression is  that  of  gentleness  and 
sweetness,  combined  with  a  lively 
movement  of  the  voice. — Dr.  Hart. 

908.    Teaching    Singing.  —  In 
teaching   children   to    sing  in  the 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WORLD. 


\Q1 


Sabbath- school,  then,  I  would  offer 
the  following-  hints,  viz. : — 

1.  To  use  the  words  of  a  hymn  as 
it  reads  in  the  book  used  in.  the 
chui'ch,  and  which  they  will  probably 
use  through  life. 

2.  To  have  the  selection  of  hymns 
very  limited,  so  that  the  whole  school 
may  soon  learn  them,  and  have 
them  at  their  command. 

3.  To  be  careful  always  to  have 
the  same  tune  and  the  same  words 
used  together.  There  are  great 
advantages  in  this.  Children  can 
learn  only  by  repetition,  and  tunes 
and  words,  thus  connected,  always 
bring  pleasurable  associations  to  the 
mind. 

There  are  two  methods  of  teaching 
a  Sabbath-school  to  sing  :  the  one  is, 
by  introducing  the  blackboard  and 
instructing  the  children  as  you  would 
a  class  of  adults,  by  teaching  them 
the  notes.  It  seems  to  me  that  this 
is  objectionable  in  that  it  takes  much 
time  ;  it  seems  to  turn  the  school 
aside  from  the  appropriate  business  of 
instruction,  and  it  takes  holy  time 
for  what  ought  to  be  learned  during 
the  week.  I  would,  therefore,  prefer 
to  have  the  school  taught  to  sing  by 
the  ear,  on  the  Sabbath,  a  few  simple 
easy  tunes,  and  to  have  provision 
made  to  have  them  regularly  and 
thoroughly  taught,  on  some  other 
day,  to  sing  by  note. — Todd. 

909.  Practice  Meetings, — It  is 
advisable  to  meet  some  of  the  chil- 
dren weekly,  for  the  purpose  of  prac- 
tising singing  ;  which  is  as  unwise 
an  employment  of  Sabbath-school 
time  as  is  the  teaching  of  writing. 
The  children  should  stand  to  sing, 
and  be  made  to  repeat  the  words 
clearly  and  distinctly.  Were  these 
few  simple  rules  attended  to,  singing 
might  become  one  of  the  highest 
ornaments  and  most  alluring  attrac- 
tions of  our  schools ;  every  scholar 
intelligently  joining  in  the  exercise. 


Xo  pains  ought  to  be  spared  to  pro- 
mote this  delightful  art  among  the 
young.  The  love  of  music  and  sweet 
sounds  has  in  it  something  refining 
and  elevating ;  it  is  an  innocent, 
healthy  amusement ;  and  ought  to 
be  encouraged,  regulated,  and  cul- 
tivated. In  heaven  there  is  sweet 
singing  ;  and  the  sound  of  children's 
voices,  raised  in  melody,  is  one  of 
earth's  sweetest,  purest  pleasures. — 
Davids. 

910.  Learning  New  Tunes.  — 
As  to  new  pieces  and  rehearsals : 
school-time  is  too  precious  to  be 
spent  in  the  mere  learning  of  tunes. 
The  half-hour  before  the  opening  of 
the  school,  or  some  portion  of  a  week- 
day, is  more  suitable  for  this  exer- 
cise. Having  learned  a  new  piece, 
do  not  be  hasty  to  bring  it  forward. 
Something  of  its  freshness  will  have 
wasted  in  its  course  of  training. 
Give  time  for  the  weariness  of  re- 
hearsal to  be  forgotten.  Four  weeks 
is  not  too  long  ;  you  may  then  take 
up  whatever  novelty  you  have 
taught,  and  rely  upon  its  being 
sung  with  spirit. — House. 

911.  The  Superintendent  a 
Singer. — It  is  a  very  important 
thing  for  the  superintendent  to  be  a 
good  singer.  It  helps  him  amazingly 
in  conducting  a  school.  There  are 
many  times  when  a  judicious  super- 
intendent, if  he  be  a  singer  himself, 
can  change  the  whole  current  of 
thought  and  feeling  in  his  school 
by  a  little  suitable  music  skilfully 
thrown  in  here  and  there.  I  have 
much  more  faith  in  singing  than  in 
scolding.  Yet  it  is  not  absolutely 
essential  that  the  superintendent 
should  be  a  singer,  in  order  to  have 
good  singing  in  the  school.  The 
very  best  singing  in  Sabbath-school 
that  I  have  ever  known  was  in  a 
school  whose  superintendent  could 
not  sing  at  all. 


n 


362 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


912.  The  Chorister. — Tt  is  gene- 
rally imderstood  that  the  superin- 
tendent is  to  lead  the  singing,  or 
indicate  some  one  of  the  teachers 
who  shall  do  it.  But  where  it  is 
possible  to  have  a  leader  of  the 
music,  known  and  recognised  as 
such,  it  is  wdse.  Ko  matter  as  to 
the  musical  cultivation  and  taste  of 
the  superintendent,  it  is  exacting 
too  much  of  him  to  require  that  he 
shall  be  leader  of  the  music.  The 
amount  of  good  that  an  earnest, 
holy-hearted,  cultivated  precentor 
or  chorister  can  do  it  is  scarcely  pos- 
sible to  estimate.  His  power  is 
scarcely  in  any  sense  inferior  to  that 
of  the  superintendent.  What,  then, 
ought  to  be  his  qualijS.cations  ?  He 
ought  to  be  as  much  interested  in 
the  spiritual  improvement  of  the 
school  as  the  pastor,  the  superin- 
tendent, or  the  most  devoted  teacher. 
Sabbath- school  songs  should  be  pro- 
fitable, interesting,  and  attractive  to 
the  children,  and  at  the  same  time 
they  should  instruct,  elevate,  and 
make  better.  The  leader  should 
give  the  scholars  a  clear  understand- 
ing of  what  they  are  about  to  sing, 
and  this  by  a  practical  and  spii'itual 
exposition,  either  verbal  or  written. 
During  the  time  allotted  to  the  sing- 
ing or  chanting,  everything  else 
should  be  laid  aside,  and  neither 
superintendent,  secretary,  librarian, 
nor  other  person  shoiild  do  any- 
thing except  to  engage  in  the 
singing,  or  at  least  manifest  an  in- 
terest in  the  exercise.  The  chorister 
should  consider  carefully  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  occasion,  and  the 
spiiitual  condition  of  the  school,  and 
so  adapt  the  right  song  to  the  right 
place.  This,  of  course,  precludes 
the  idea  of  singing  according  to  a 
plan  laid  out  and  stereotyped  a  week 
ahead.  If  this  may  ever  do  for  other 
classes  of  religious  meetings,  it  will 
not  do  for  a  Sabbath-school.  As  to 
how  much  time  should  be  given  to 


music  should  be  a  question  for  the 
superintendent  and  chorister  to  de- 
termine. Some  schools  have  too 
many  new  pieces,  and  others  too 
many  old ;  that  is,  one  class  is  con- 
stantly reaching  for  the  new,  while 
the  other  is  always  holding  to  the  old. 
Both  are  extremes.  "Twenty-live 
tunes,"  says  a  music  leader  of  twenty 
years'  experience,  *'  are  enough 
for  twelve  months.  Childi-en," 
says  he,  "prefer  to  sing  often  the 
pretty  tunes  that  they  know  tcell, 
to  having  a  variety  of  half-learned 
pieces."  It  is  well  to  select  a  dozen 
or  fifteen  of  the  best  voices,  and 
meet  them  occasionally  to  give  them 
instruction.  They  can,  on  festal 
occasions,  take  a  prominent  part  in 
the  musical  exercises.  But  the 
whole  school,  where  it  is  at  all 
practicable,  would  be  great  gainers 
by  meeting  once  a  week  to  practice 
new  tunes,  at  which  the  chorister 
could  give  serviceable  instructions, 
and  point  out  vocal  defects. —  Colby. 

913.  Qualifications  of  Leader. — 
The  leader  of  singing,  as  previously 
intimated,  should  be  a  Christian,  for 
the  reason  that  sacred  song  is  more 
an  inspiration  than  an  art — the  ex- 
pression of  emotion  rather  than  the 
display  of  vocal  culture.  The  basis 
of  all  musical  effect  is  feeling.  As 
feeling  is  from  the  heart,  so  must  be 
its  expression,  else  it  is  an  unknown 
tongue.  The  understanding,  or  head, 
can  utter  no  music,  least  of  all  re- 
ligious music.  Sounds  may  be  given 
in  time,  pitch,  and  power,  but  the 
music  will  be  wanting.  The  effort 
"unll  be  at  best  but  a  counterfeit.  It 
may  be  beautiful,  but  for  some  reason 
it  will  not  find  you.  Some  false 
quality  of  sound  will  betray  execu- 
tion. The  solemnity  will  be  hollow, 
the  softness  flat,  the  loudness  a  strain. 
If  feelings,  then,  be  requisite  to  per- 
fect musical  utterance,  how  shall  one 
express  the  sublime  conceptions  and 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOBLD. 


363 


emotions  of  the  worship  of  God  whose 
heart  has  never  bowed  in  reverence 
and  adoration  before  Divinity,  thrilled 
with  the  joy  of  pardon,  melted  with 
pity  for  a  Saviour's  sufferings,  nor 
beat  responsive  to  a  Saviour's  love  ? 
Possessing  piety,  the  leader  may 
add  many  important  lesser  qualifi- 
cations. He  should  be  able  to  ex- 
plain the  spirit  of  the  hymn,  be  a 
pleasant  speaker,  and  be  able  to  read 
well.  If  he  have,  in  addition,  an 
attractive,  cheerful  countenance,  and 
can  picture  the  joy,  the  hope,  the 
love,  the  fear  of  which  he  sings  in 
his  own  face,  he  will  succeed  the 
better  for  that.  He  will  in  general 
be  aided  in  his  duties  by  a  small 
choir.  Large  schools  cannot  be  easily 
led  without  one.  It  need  not  be  a 
company  of  thoroughly  trained 
singers.  Four  to  twelve  of  the 
better  singers,  facing  the  school, 
will  be  sufficient  to  relieve  the 
voice  of  the  leader  from  a  tax  too 
severe  for  a  single  person,  while  it 
will  enable  him  to  perfect  the  sing- 
ing in  its  minor  details.  With  these 
aids  h€  is  ready  to  commence  the 
work  of  instruction.  This  he  should 
do  by  impressing  upon  the  school 
the  sentiment  of  the  song  before 
them.  Once  imbued  with  that,  it 
will  requii-e  little  art  to  make  them 
sing  with  feeling,  expression,  and 
effect.  As  to  the  language  and  sub- 
ject-matter of  the  hymns  to  be  sung, 
those  are  best  adapted  to  use  which 
are  based  on  and  centre  in  the  great 
facts  of  redemption — the  love  of  Grod 
—the  grace  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  the 
joys  and  hopes  of  the  new  life  in 
Chiist. —  Colby. 

914.  Advice  on  Singing.  —  1. 
I^ever  sing  for  pastime  or  recreation 
in  Sabbath- school.  We  have  no  time 
for  this ;  besides,  we  have  a  higher 
and  holier  mission  for  our  songs.  2. 
Sing  while  you  sing,  and  do  nothing 
else.     Books,  papers,  lessons,  should 


all  be  laid  aside.  Superintendent, 
teachers,  and  scholars  should  all 
engage  heartily  in  the  exercise.  3. 
The  teacher  of  the  singing  should 
know,  as  far  as  possible,  the  spiritual 
state  of  the  school,  so  that  the  songs 
may  be  selected  with  reference  to  it. 
If  faith  is  lacking,  he  should  sing 
about  faith.  If  energy  and  life  are 
needed,  he  should  sing  some  lively, 
soul-stirring  song  that  will  wake  up 
and  enliven  all.  Every  right  song 
has  a  mission  more  than  to  jingle 
sweetly,  and  if  we  use  it  in  the 
right  place,  and  in  the  right  spirit 
sing  it,  it  will  become  a  power  with 
God,  and  be  a  means  of  winning 
souls  to  Christ.  The  good  effects  of 
a  sermon  or  speech  are  often  neu- 
tralised because  followed  by  some 
unsuitable  hymn.  Bring  your  song 
out  with  power,  in  the  right  2^J((ce, 
and  it  will  do  its  work  with  effect. 
4.  Every  Sabbath-school  should  have 
its  regular  weekly  singing  meeting, 
so  as  to  improve  in  the  divine  art> 
Thus,  too,  it  will  learn  new  pieces, 
so  as  to  have  a  iine  and  large  variety 
for  all  occasions.  5.  In  introducing 
a  new  hymn,  care  should  be  taken 
that  the  sentiment  and  movement  be 
fully  understood,  so  that  all  may  see 
its  points,  and  feel  an  interest  in  it. — 
Phili])  Phillips, 

915.  Singing  as  a  Spiritual 
Gain. — In  the  year  1833  a  band  of 
young  men,  richer  in  faith  and  love 
than  in  silver  and  gold,  determined 
to  do  something  for  the  lower-class 
children  of  the  splendid  but  corrupt 
city  of  Hamburg,  Germany.  The^ 
gathered  a  few  of  the  very  worst 
together,  boys  that  had  lived  by 
thieving,  sleeping  nights  under  carts 
or  with  the  hogs,  and  reduced  in 
manners  and  morals  to  the  very 
lowest  point  in  the  scale.  They  first 
washed,  cleaned,  and  combed  them  ; 
then  commenced  their  education, 
giving    vspecial    prominence    to  the 


e2 


364 


STJNDAT   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


Bible,  the  Catechism,  and  the  study 
and  practice  of  music.  A  strange 
and  rapid  transformation  followed. 
Miserable,  wicked,  sunken  as  they 
were,  all  were  given  to  understand 
that  Christ  was  in  each  case  their 
personal  Saviour.  The  songs  and 
hymns  were  specially  suited  to  their 
circumstances,  and  Dr.  Wichern,  the 
chief  founder  ^nd  present  manager 
of  the  institution,  says  that  the 
singing  of  an  appropriate  hymn  did 
the  first  work  of  awakening  in  the 
hearts  of  the  hardest  inmates. 
Sometimes  a  voice  would  drop  from 
the  group  of  singers,  and  then 
weeping  and  sobbing  would  be  heard 
instead.  The  children  would  say 
they  could  not  sing :  they  must  think 
of  their  past  lives — of  their  brothers 
and  sisters — of  their  parents  living  in 
vice  and  misery  at  home.  On  seve- 
ral occasions  the  singing  exercise  had 
to  be  given  up,  the  children  being 
sent  into  the  garden  to  recover 
themselves. — House. 

916.  Improving  Opportunities. — 
Travelling  in  the  cars  not  long  since, 
engrossed  with  thoughts  of  the 
friends  I  was  about  to  visit  and  the 
friends  I  had  left  behind,  I  was  in- 
terrupted by  a  pleasant  voice  saying, 
''Come  into  the  next  car  and  sing. 
We  are  going  to  have  some  singing 
in  there."  Looking  up  I  saw  a 
young  man  standing  near  with  a  pile 
of  singing  books  in  his  hand.  Sup- 
posing he  was  some  agent  or  book 
peddler  who  took  this  way  of  ad- 
vertising his  wares,  I  put  myself  on 
my  dignity  and  answered,  ' '  No,  I 
don't  give  concerts,"  and  then  turned 
impatiently  from  the  questioner. 
Soon  the  sound  of  sweet  Sunday- 
school  songs  was  heard  through  the 
open  door — and  I  learned  that  my 
supposed  book  peddler  was  one  who 
was  active  in  every  good  word  and 
work,  w^hose  name  is  familiar  to  all 
friends  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian 


Association.  I  was  afterwards  in- 
formed that  he  often  took  this  way  of 
interesting  travellers,  that  he  might 
afterwards  speak  to  them  of  Jesus. 
How  rebuked  I  felt.  My  assumed 
dignity  had  hardly  allowed  me  a 
civil  word  for  a  Christian  stranger, 
while  he  w^as  embracing  every  op- 
portunity to  speak  for  his  Master, 
As  I  listened  again  to  these  words 
coming  through  the  open  door, 
"Stand  up,  stand  up  for  Jesus,"  I 
learned  a  lesson  I  hope  not  to  forget : 
a  lesson  of  improved  opportunities. 

917.  Old  Tunes  and  Hymns.— 
Sir  Bernard  Burke,  in  his  volume 
entitled,  "  Yicissitudes  of  Noble 
Families,"  gives  a  touching  instance 
of  the  tendency  of  flowers  to  linger 
upon  the  spots  where  they  were 
once  tenderly  nui'tured.  ' '  Being 
in  search,"  he  says,  **  of  a  pedigree 
with  reference  to  the  Findernes,  once 
a  great  family  seat  in  Derbyshire, 
England,  I  sought  for  their  ancient 
hall.  Not  a  stone  remained  to  tell 
where  it  stood.  I  entered  the 
church ;  not  a  single  record  of  a 
Finderne  was  there.  I  accosted  a 
villager,  hoping  to  glean  some  stray 
traditions  of  the  Findernes.  '  Fin- 
dernes ? '  he  said,  '  we  have  no  Fin- 
dernes here  ;  but  we  have  something 
which  once  belonged  to  them — we 
have  Findernes'  flowers.'  '  Show  me 
them,'  I  replied ;  and  the  old  man 
led  me  into  a  field,  which  still  re- 
tained faint  traces  of  terrace  and 
foundation.  '  There,'  said  he, 
pointing  to  a  bank  of  garden  flowers, 
grown  wild,  '  there  are  Findernes' 
flowers,  brought  by  Sir  Geofirey  from 
the  Holy  Land,  and  do  what  we  will 
they  will  never  die.' "  0  blessed 
hymns  sung  in  the  Sunday-school ! 
0  wondrous  lessons  learned  there  ! 
flowers  brought  from  the  Holy  Land 
— flowers  blossoming  amid  earth's 
perishings  and  neglect — flowers  of 
which  it  may,  in  many  a  case,  be 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


365 


said,  "Do  what  we  will,  they  will 
never  die." — House. 


THE   SOTDAY-SOHOOL   POST- 
OPPIOE. 


918. 


In   a   certain   school 


with  which  we  are  acquainted,  there 
•  is  fastened  to  the  wall,  on  each  side 
of  the  schoolroom,  a  letter-box.  This 
box  is  broad  and  deep,  but  does  not 
project  fi'om  the  wall  more  than 
about  four  or  five  inches.  Hence  it 
does  not  inconveniently  occupy  much 
space,  nor  thrust  itself  forward  into 
notice  too  greatly.  But  though  so 
laudably  retiring,  it  has  not  that 
false  modesty  that  shrinks  from  duty 
even,  but  has  its  stand — where  it  is 
always  in  its  appointed  place — near 
the  door.  Hence  it  is  always  ready 
to  receive,  from  those  who  enter  or 
depart,  the  notes  that  teachers  and 
scholars  may  desire  to  send  to  one 
another.  I  found  upon  inquiry  that 
the  post-office  in  this  Sunday-school 
had  done  good  service  in  its  day,  and 
might  do  more,  if  its  merits  were 
better  known.  "  You  see,"  said  my 
friend  the  secretary,  "there  are  many 
occasions  on  which  it  may  be  very 
useful.  For  example,  a  teacher  has 
long  noticed  a  growing  thoughtful- 
ness  in  one  of  his  scholars,  and  has 
desired  some  private  conversation. 
This  is  impossible  during  class  teach- 
ing, and  not  always  expedient,  if 
convenient,  afterwards.  The  teacher 
knows  that  if  he  were  to  request 
such  a  scholar  to  remain  behind  when 
the  others  had  taken  their  departure, 
such  request  would  expose  the  object 
of  his  solicitude  to  sundry  remarks 
from  the  thoughtless,  that  wotdd  go 
far  to  nullify  any  eiiect  produced  by 
the  interview.  The  same  effect  might 
follow  the  handing  of  a  letter  to  the 
scholar  in  the  class.  Hence  this 
method  is  adopted  to  secure  a  better 


and  more  unobserved  way  of  direct 
and  personal  communication  between 
the  teacher  and  the  scholar.  Some- 
times the  scholar  wishes  to  make 
known  some  want  to  the  teacher  that 
he  would  not  willingly  make  known 
in  the  presence  of  the  class.  He 
wishes  to  have  some  Scripture  diffi- 
culty explained,  or  some  mental  dis- 
turbance allayed ;  or  perchance  he 
desires  to  put  directly  and  pointedly 
the  question, — that  all  teachers  are 
glad  to  hear  their  scholars  propose, 
— 'What  must  I  do  to  be  saved?' 
He  knows  that  he  has  nothing  to  do 
but  drop  a  note  into  the  letter-box, 
and  his  special  want  will  be  speedily 
attended  to.  Teachers  also  wish  oc- 
casionally to  communicate  with  each 
other,  or  with  the  superintendent,  at 
a  time  that  the  school  duties  do  not 
allow,  and  they  find  the  difficulty 
obviated  by  our  postal  system.  But 
perhaps  the  chief  service  it  has  ren- 
dered us  has  been  the  furnishing  a 
means  of  communication  between  our 
minister  and  the  Sunday-school.  It 
is  not  at  all  an  unusual  thing  for 
me,  on  opening  the  box  on  a  Sunday 
morning,  to  find  a  batch  of  letters  to 
teachers  and  scholars  in  his  hand- 
writing." "Indeed!  that  seems 
quite  a  novel  idea.  What  does  he 
find  to  write  about?"  "I  can  best 
answer  that  question  by  describing 
'^hat  has  actually  taken  place  many 
t^mes.  I  find  some  morning  a  letter 
addressed  to  a  certain  teacher ;  and 
being,  as  I  am,  pretty  intimate  with 
the  teachers,  I  learn  presently  the 
contents  of  this  letter.  It  will  very 
probably  run  thus :  '  My  dear  friend, 
I  am  anxious  to  have  some  informa- 
tion concerning  the  present  religious 
condition  of  many  of  the  senior  scho- 
lars in  our  Sunday-school,  with  a 
view  to  some  direct  correspondence 
with  as  many  of  them  as  may  be  de- 
sirable. I  shall  be  very  glad  there- 
fore, if  you  will  favour  me  with  a  list 
of  the  members  of  your  class,  and  if 


366 


SU^'^DAT    SCHOOL    WOELD. 


you  will  affix  to  each  name  a  word 
or  two   to  guide   me   in  this  mat- 
ter.   Eitlier  the  word  ''  indifferent,'''' 
^^  tJioKghtful,''''  or  ^^  inquiring,''^  will 
serve  as  a  hint  to  me  when  I  write 
to  them.     It  maj'-  he  also  that  some 
particulars  of  their  personal  history 
or  relations  would  assist  me  greatly 
in  such  communication.     One  may 
be  the  child  of  godless,   another  of 
pious  parents.     One  may  be  an  or- 
phan,   another    may  have   recently 
suffered  a  very  painful  bereavement, 
or  have  lately  recovered  from  a  se- 
vere illness  :  any  information  of  this 
kind  would  be  useful,  as  guiding  me 
in  what  I  might  have  to  say  to  such 
members  of  your  class  in  my  cor- 
respondence with  them.    And  it  will 
be  an  additional  favour  if  you  will 
kindly  let  me  have  this  information 
within  the  next  day  or  two.     "Wish- 
ing for  the  Sunday-school,  and  your- 
self in  particular,  all  happiness  and 
success,  I  am,'  etc.     Such  would  be 
the  kind  of  letter  that  a  teacher  or 
two  will  have  some  Sunday  morning. 
It  has  several  times  occurred  that  on 
the  following  Sunday  I  have  had  a 
batch  of  letters  to   deliver   to   the 
scholars    in    two   or  three   classes ; 
usually  it  has  been  one  class  a  week. 
Each   of  these   letters  has   been   a 
direct  appeal  on  the  subject  of  per- 
sonal religion,    an    appeal   founded 
on  the  information  afforded  by  the 
teacher.    The  scholar,  who  of  course 
knows  nothing  of  the  correspondence 
between  the  minister  and  his  teacher, 
is  surprised  to  find  that  the  minister 
has  been  thinking  about  him,  and 
how  intimately  he  is  acquainted  with 
his  state  of  mind  and  some  special 
circumstances   of  his   history.     His 
heart  is  touched  by  the  kind  inte- 
rest taken  in  his  welfare.     If  he  has 
been  seriously  inquiring,  he  feels  that 
now  the  ice  is  broken,  and  he  soon 
visits  the  minister  as  an  inquirer  ;  if 
he  has  been  thoughtless,  he  begins 
to  think  he  should  attend  to  the  sal- 


vation of  his  soul,  since  not  only  the 
teacher  but  the  minister  also  takes 
so  warm  an  interest  in  his  welfare." 
' '  Then  you  think  good  has  been 
done,  proportionate  to  the  trouble 
and  time  expended?"  "Indeed,  I 
am  sure  of  it.  It  seldom  happens 
that  any  of  our  senior  scholars  are 
admitted  into  the  church  but  some 
of  them  have  referred  their  first  re- 
ligious impressions,  or  at  any  rate  t 
their  decision,  to  the  letters  they 
have  received  from  our  pastor.  At  a 
single  church  meeting  I  have  known 
several,  in  the  letters  they  have  ad- 
dressed to  the  church,  attribute  to 
these  letters  the  deepening  of  their 
convictions,  or  the  guiding  of  their 
hearts  in  search  of  peace,  or  the 
awakening  of  a  desire  to  become 
numbered  with  the  people  of  God." 
"On  the  whole,  then,  you  are  of 
opinion  that  the  post-office  in  your 
school  is  a  useful  branch  of  your 
operations,  and  one  that  should  not 
be  dispensed  with?"  "I  have  no 
hesitation  in  saying  that  it  is  one 
of  the  most  useful  auxiliaries  we 
have." 


TEMPERANCE    SOCIETIES. 

919.  Organisation, — When  there 
is  a  good  prospect  of  success,  let 
there  be  formed  a  Juvenile  Tempe- 
rance organisation,  either  by  one 
school  or  the  union  of  schools.  A 
Simday- school  temperance  medal  or 
certificate  might  be  given  to  every 
signer  of  the  pledge.  In  the  orga- 
nisation of  a  society,  select  some 
evening  of  the  week  or  a  Saturday 
afternoon.  Let  the  chairman  be  one 
of  the  young  men  between  fifteen 
and  eighteen  years  of  age ;  have 
some  appropriate  temperance  hymns, 
an  address  from  the  pastor  or  super- 
intendent,  or  a  few  pieces  recited 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


367 


by  th.e  boys,  or  an  essay  or  two  by 
the  girls.  Take  all  the  names  to 
the  pledge  you  can  secure,  and  ap- 
point committees  of  young  ladies  and 
young  gentlemen  to  secure  signatures  I 
in  their  respective  neighbourhoods  j 
through  the  week.  It  is  not  neces-  | 
sary  that  the  meetings  should  be 
continued  regularly  through  the  year, 
but  at  such  times  and  for  such 
periods  as  the  largest  number  of 
attendants  can  be  secured.  In  some 
schools  Bands  of  Hope  are  organised 
and  successfully  carried  on.  The  fol- 
lowing is  the  plan  which  has  been 
found  to  work  successfully  in  many 
places : — Invite  the  children  of  the 
neighbourhood  from  the  pulpit,  by 
visiting  the  Sabbath  and  public 
schools  about  you  or  otherwise.  At 
first  there  may  be  a  little  difficulty 
to  get  up  your  first  meeting ;  but  if 
it  is  well  conducted  and  made  inte- 
resting, there  will  be  no  difficulty  in 
gathering  future  assemblies  of  the 
Httle  ones.  Open  the  meeting  by' 
singing  some  appropriate  hymn ;  read 
a  portion  of  Scripture — such,  for  in- 
stance, as  the  first  chapter  of  Daniel ; 
prayer,  and  then  a  few  pointed  re- 
marks upon  the  importance  of  the 
movement  and  its  object,  with  a 
short  sketch  of  its  progress  and  posi- 
tion elsewhere ;  sing  another  hymn, 
and  then  remarks  by  some  discreet 
friend  upon  the  necessity  of  children 
taking  hold  of  temperance  prin- 
ciples in  •early  life — interweaving 
among  his  observations  a  few  pleas- 
ing stories  illustrative  of  the  beau- 
tiful influence  of  children ;  close  by 
singing ;  and,  if  you  can  possibly 
arrange  it,  have  at  this,  your  open- 
ing meeting,  your  officers  appointed 
for  the  ensuing  year.  Every  person, 
on  becoming  a  member,  shall  take  the 
following  pledge:  "I  hereby  so- 
lemnly pledge  myself  to  abstain  from 
the  use  of  all  intoxicating  drinks, 
including  wine,  beer,  and  cider  as  a 
beverage ;  from  the  use  of  tobacco 


in   every  form,  and   from   all  pro- 
fanity."— House. 

920.  Youths'  Temperance  So- 
cieties.—  The  terrible  scourge  of 
intemperance  is  making  sad  progress 
in  our  land.  Whole  families,  men, 
women,  and  children,  are  desolated 
by  it.  Beer,  domestic  wines,  cordials, 
and  even  medical  prescriptions,  are 
all  made  to  contribute  to  and  swell 
this  river  of  death.  The  only  safe 
and  sovereign  remedy  is  —  total 
abstinence.  This  conservative  prin- 
ciple, in  order  to  be  the  most  effective, 
should  be  fully  inculcated  in  early 
childhood  ;  for  our  young  men,  after 
stimulating  their  appetites,  often  lose 
all  power  to  stop.  Therefore  the 
children  in  our  families  and  Sunday- 
schools  ought  to  be  early  trained  to 
abhorrence  of  all  that  leads  to  this 
dangerous  and  vicious  course.  Drink- 
ing leads  to  falsehood  and  deception, 
hypocrisy  and  dishonesty,  impurity, 
and  sometimes  to  murder.  No  love 
of  parents  or  children,  husband  or 
wife,  reputation,  influence,  character 
or  wealth,  is  sufficient  to  restrain.  It 
is^  therefore,  fitting  that  oiu' youth  be 
early  instructed  and  guarded  against 
the  steps  toward  this  great  evil. 
Particularly  ought  the  children  in 
our  Sabbath-schools  to  be  made 
familiar  with  what  Grod  has  said  on 
this  subject  in  the  Bible.  These  texts 
should  be  often  repeated  by  the 
scholars,  and  explained  and  enforced 
by  their  teachers.  Many  fathers  will 
say,  "  Rather  let  my  son  be  an  abject 
slave  for  life,  than  fall  a  victim  to 
this  degrading,  destructive  habit  of 
intemperance."  The  question  arises, 
When  and  how  this  can  best  be 
taught  ?  We  are  always  careful  to 
protect  Sabbath-schools  from_  any 
diversion  from  the  regular  Scripture 
lesson  of  the  day.  The  Bible  and 
Bible-teaching  is  the  glory  of  Sab- 
bath-schools. Therefore  we  would 
never  allow  temperance  or  missionary 


368 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


work,  or  singing,  or  addresses  to 
interrupt  it.  It  is  preferable  in 
communities,  we  tliink,  to  take 
Saturday  afternoons  for  a  month  or 
two  for  this  purpose.  Say,  meet  in 
the  largest  church  at  three  to  half- 
past  four  o'clock,  or  half-past  three 
to  five  o'clock,  p.m.  Organise  a 
Touths'  Temperance  Society.  Ap- 
point a  discreet  youth  of  fourteen 
or  sixteen  years  as  president,  with 
other  officers,  and  a  committee  to 
arrange  for  each  meeting.  Secure 
good,  fresh,  appropriate  speakers, 
and  never  allow  a  dull,  heavy  orator 
to  occupy  the  children's  attention. 
Instruction,  lively  and  adapted,  must 
constantly  prevail.  Some  of  the 
older  boys,  twelve  to  eighteen  years 
old,  may  prepare  and  recite  a  ten- 
minute  speech  or  appeal  to  their 
associates.  The  young  ladies  may 
write  brief  essays,  giving  their  views 
upon  the  subject,  which  may  be  read. 
Secure  as  speakers  the  ministers, 
lawyers,  &c.,  of  the  place,  who  can 
sustain  attention,  and  who  are  known 
to  be  temperance  men.  Select  and 
appoint  twelve  boys  and  the  same 
number  of  girls,  who  shall  cu'culate 
the  pledge  and  obtain  signatures. 
Continue  the  meetings  only  for  as 
many  weeks  as  shall  be  needed,  and 
the  interest  shall  be  fully  sustained, 
and  then  discontinue  them  for  a  few 
months.  It  will  be  necessary,  how- 
ever, to  have  some  such  temperance 
revival  once  in  six  to  twelve  months, 
in  every  place,  to  keep  the  cause  in 
the  ascendant  and  save  the  children, 
and  the  meeting  and  the  result  will 
be  delightful  to  all.  We  have  known 
a  thousand  pledges  taken  in  this 
way  within  a  few  weeks,  in  a  country 
village  of  twenty-five  hundred  in- 
habitants.— Pardee. 

921.  A  Fact  for  an  Argument. 
From  returns  carefully  obtained  from 
chaplains  of  the  principal  prisons  in 
Scotland  and  England,  it  has  been 


found  that  out  of  ten  thousand  in- 
mates of  prisons  and  penitentiaries, 
no  fewer  than  six  thousand  had  been 
Sabbath-school  scholars.  In  Edin- 
burgh, out  of  553  who  were,  in 
1867,  prisoners,  it  was  found  399 
had  previously  been  attending  the 
Sabbath-school.  The  cause,  at  the 
close  of  the  investigations,  was  easily 
assigned.  The  teachers  in  the  Sab- 
bath-school had  said  nothing  in  re- 
gard to  the  danger  of  drink — they 
had  in  many  cases  been  users  of 
wine  aud  beer  themselves,  and  the 
relapse  into  intemperance,  and  then 
into  crime,  was  prompt.  In  our 
country,  statistics  so  appalling  may 
not  exist,  but  we  have  heard  that 
in  many  of  our  State  Eeform  schools 
there  is  quite  a  per  cent,  of  inmates 
who  were  formerly  connected  with 
the  Sabbath-school,  but  who  by 
drinking  found  their  way  thither. 
The  facts  in  either  case  carry  their 
own  lesson,  and  warn  every  teacher 
of  religion  to  guard  well  the  hearts 
of  the  young  against  the  terrible 
danger  there  is  in  yielding  in  the 
slightest  degree  to  habits  of  intem- 
perance. Nine-tenths  of  all  the 
misery  of  the  land  is  traceable  to  the 
drinking  habits  of  society.  "Were, 
to-day,  all  men  total  abstainers,  the 
condition  of  society  would  be  im- 
measurably purer  than  it  is,  and  re- 
vivals, instead  of  being  periodical 
and  local,  would  be  all  but  universal 
and  constant.  In  every  school, 
therefore,  we  should  have  a  temper- 
ance organisation,  every  member  of 
the  school  being  requested  to  sign 
the  temperance  pledge.  The  super-  ** 
intendent  should  frequently  intro- 
duce the  subject  for  the  proper 
education  of  the  young,  that  they 
may  be  taught  to  keep  the  body, 
which  is  the  temple  of  God,  pure. — 
House, 

922.  Two  Thousand  Millions.— 
Over  two  thousand  millions  of  dol- 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


269 


lars  are  paid  in  a  single  year  in 
America  for  intoxicating  spirits. 
This  money,  given  for  a  year  and  a 
half  into  the  United  States'  Treasury, 
would  extinguish  the  national  debt. 
The  number  of  children  in  the  Sun- 
day-schools of  the  United  States  has 
been  estimated  at  about  four  millions, 
and  of  teachers  four  hundred  thou- 
sand. It  has  been  estimated  further, 
that  the  cost  of  maintaining  the 
Sunday  -  schools  of  the  country 
averages  about  sixty  cents  a  scholar 
per  year.  This  would  make  an  ag- 
gregate of  two  millions  four  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  for  Sunday- 
school  expenses,  which  is  only  the 
one-eighth  hundred  part  of  the 
amount  paid  by  the  people  of 
the  United  States  for  intoxicating 
liquors;  that  is  to  say,  the  money 
consumed  in  liquor  would  afford  re- 
ligious instruction  in  the  Sunday- 
school  to  over  four  hundred  million 
of  children,  which  is  more  than  the 
juvenile  population  of  the  globe. — 
House, 


SAVINGS'  BANK. 

923.  On  the  utility  of  establish- 
ing a  Savings'  Fund  among  the 
Children. — The  scheme  which  has 
been  lately  recommended  to  the 
public,  denominated  ' '  the  savings' 
bank,"  as  a  depository  for  the  small 
sums  which  the  labouring  classes 
can  spare  from  their  weekly  support, 
is  adopted  in  many  schools  with 
considerable  benefit.  Except  dur- 
ing calamitous  times,  the  children, 
especially  in  manufacturing  districts, 
spend  many  a  penny  and  twopence 
in  the  most  useless  trash.  To  pre- 
vent this  waste  of  money,  they  are 
encouraged  to  bring  every  halfpenny 
that  is  not  required  for  their  present 
support,  and  deposit  it  in  the  hands 
of  the  superintendent,  or  some  other 


person,  who  keeps  an  account  open 
with  every  child  who  has  deposited 
anything.  This  money  they  are  of 
course  allowed  to  draw  out  when- 
ever they  want  it ;  which,  however, 
should  never  be  done  but  at  the  de- 
sire of  their  friends,  in  order  that  it 
might  not  be  improperly  applied. 
In  some  cases  a  premium  is  allowed ; 
which  indeed  should  be  always 
adopted  when  the  funds  of  the  school 
will  allow.  It  is  the  least  advantage 
of  this  plan,  that  it  saves  for  the 
benefit  of  the  children  a  considerable 
sum  of  money,  which  would  other- 
wise be  spent  in  useless  gratifications 
of  their  appetite.  There  is  a  still 
greater  benefit  likely  to  accrue.  It 
teaches  them  from  their  childhood 
habits  of  economy  and  frugality. 
Those  who  have  had  much  to  do 
with  the  poor  know  and  lament  how 
deplorably  wanting  they  are  in  such 
habits.  They  are  the  most  improvi- 
dent of  their  species,  scarcely  ever 
looking  beyond  the  present,  waste- 
ful of  the  much  and  regardless  of 
the  little.  Greater  sums  are  often 
squandered,  because  they  are  great ; 
and  little  sums  not  saved  because 
they  are  little.  They  are  sadly  de- 
fective in  that  policy  which  takes 
care  of  the  shilling,  and  leaves  the 
pound  to  take  care  of  itself.  Hence 
the  greatest  profusion  is  often  fol- 
lowed in  their  families  by  the 
greatest  scarcity,  since,  even  in  the 
best  of  times,  and  by  the  best  of 
workmen,  there  is  seldom  any  pro- 
vision made  against  a  season  of  sick- 
ness or  necessity.  Much  of  the 
distress  which  prevails  during  a 
stagnation  of  trade,  or  a  time  of 
domestic  affliction,  may  be  traced  up 
to  this  wretched  want  of  economy 
and  foresight.  We  cannot  then  con- 
fer upon  a  poor  man,  a  greater 
earthly  benefit  in  his  station,  than  a 
habit  of  frugality.  If  this  be  ever 
done  with  effect,  it  must  be  accom- 
plished while  he  is  young ;  a  more 


370 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOKLD. 


eiFectual  method  can  scarcely  be  de- 
vised than  the  plan  I  now  recom- 
mend. Let  the  children  be  taught 
that  every  fartliing  spent  in  trash  is 
lost,  and  be  encouraged  to  bring  all 
they  can  spare  to  the  savings'  fund. 
At  the  end  of  the  year,  or  any  stated 
period,  let  them  be  carefully  im- 
pressed with  the  idea  that  a  con- 
siderable sum,  by  the  increase  of  a 
little  self-denial,  has  been  collected 
from  what  at  the  time  seemed 
scarcely  worth  saving.  Let  them, 
when  the  money  is  in  their  hands, 
and  their  hearts  leaping  at  the  sight, 
be  impressively  taught,  by  an  appeal 
to  their  own  experience,  the  import- 
ant sentiment,  that  much  is  made  up 
of  many  littles.  Let  them  be  very 
forcibly  reminded  of  the  ultimate 
benefits  arising  from  preferring  fu- 
ture good  to  present  gratihcation. 
We  are  thus  communicating,  in  an 
almost  imperceptible  manner,  those 
saving  and  frugal  habits  which  will 
be  of  service  to  them  all  the  days  of 
their  life.  We  are  doing  more  than 
this  ;  for  we  are  actually  communi- 
cating mo;-«7benefit.  Everything  that 
induces  a  human  mind  to  forego  im- 
mediate gratification  for  distant  good ; 
everjrthing  that  makes  the  future 
predominate  over  the  present ;  every- 
thing, in  short,  which  makes  a  man 
live  by  faith  and  hope,  seems  to  be  a 
preparation  for  that  temper  which 
displays  itself  by  "  looking  not  at 
the  things  which  are  seen  and  tem- 
poral, but  at  the  things  which  are 
unseen  and  eternal."  And  even 
where  no  direct  moral  good  is  pro- 
duced, it  will  ever  be  found,  that  a 
saving  and  frugal  temper  is  connected 
with  a  spirit  of  proper  and  praisewor- 
thy independence.  So  that  we  are  by 
this  means  raising  a  barrier  against  the 
swelling  tide  of  national  embarrass- 
ment, which  is  flowing  in  continually 
upon  us  from  the  natui'e  and  influ- 
ence of  the  poor-laws.  This  view  of 
things  justifies  the  remarks  which 


are  contained  in  the  preface  of  this 
work,  concerning  the  importance  of 
the  Sunday-school  system,  as  throw- 
ing into  our  hands  the  whole  labour- 
ing population  of  the  kingdom,  to 
form  their  minds  and  manners  in 
what  way  we  please.  And  if  we 
may  judge  from  the  present  state  of 
things,  this  is  an  advantage  which 
should  be  eagerly  seized  by  every 
friend  of  his  country,  as  well  as 
ever}'-  friend  of  religion. — J.  A. 
James. 


ANiflVERSARIES 
PESTIVALS. 


AND 


924.  Their  Utility.— Anniversa- 
ries have  been  quite  common  of  late 
years  ;  they  seem  to  be  very  appro- 
priate, and  when  well  conducted  are 
productive  of  good.  The  summing 
up  of  the  labours  of  the  year  in  the 
annual  report  is  often  of  more  than 
local  interest.  The  presence,  orderly 
deportment,  and  singing  of  the  chil- 
dren, are  all  calculated  to  leave  a 
happy,  salutary  impression.  They 
ai'e  conducted  with  alternate  hymns, 
prayers,  and  addresses,  with  the  re- 
port, and  are  usually  on  the  after- 
noon or  evening  of  the  Sabbath, 
with  crowded  audiences.  Here  are 
brought  out  for  prayer  and  review 
all  the  plans  and  work  of  the  school 
for  the  year.  The  addresses  should 
always  be  appropriate,  instructive, 
and  interesting  to  all,  tending  always 
to  an  increased  spirituality  and 
higher  religious  tone  to  the  school. 
They  should  always  reach  the 
parents  and  friends  present,  as  well 
as  the  children. — Pardee. 

925.  Their  Abuse. — It  has  of 
late  years  become  lamentably 
fashionable  to  introduce  into  the 
service,  at  the  time  of  charity  sermons, 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


371 


a  grand  selection  of  sacred  music. 
In  some  cases,  tlie  vocal  performance 
is  attended  by  a  complete  instru- 
mental band.  Musical  effect  is  as 
much  studied  as  at  an  oratorio  ;  and, 
as  in  the  case  of  theatrical  amuse- 
ments, the  public  are  lui-ed  to  the 
entertainment  by  a  printed  bill  of 
fare.  Were  a  stranger  from  Rome  to 
pass  the  doors  of  our  chapels  at  such 
a  season,  he  might  fancy,  from  the 
sound  of  trumpets  and  kettle-drums, 
that  it  was  a  military  mass  in  some 
Catholic  chapel.  I  can  easily  con- 
ceive with  what  force  a  thinldng 
Papist  would  say  to  a  Protestant,  on 
such  an  occasion,  "  To  make  this 
scene  complete,  you  should  have 
painted  windows,  flowers,  embroid- 
ered vestments,  images,  and  pic- 
tures :  for  is  there  more  harm  in 
pleasing  the  eye  than  the  ear  ? " 
Now  it  would  be  quite  bad  enough 
if  this  profanation  of  sacred  subjects 
and  holy  times  were  confined  to  the 
musicians  and  the  congregation ;  but 
the  children  in  the  Sunday-school 
partake  of  the  mischievous  effect, 
and  that  in  various  ways.  First, 
they  are  led  insensibly  to  conclude 
that  all  entertainment  is  not  forbid- 
den even  on  the  Christian  Sabbath: 
for  surely  it  is  too  much  for  the 
credulity  of  childhood  to  beUeve  that 
this  performance,  as  it  is  generally 
conducted,  is  intended  for  devotion. 
Thej'  thus  have  their  views  of  the 
sanctity  of  the  Sabbath  considerably 
lessened.  Even  in  the  most  quiet 
and  simple  method  of  conducting  the 
business  of  an  anniversary  sermon, 
there  is  much  bustle  and  disquie- 
tude. The  children  look  forward  to 
it  for  many  Sabbaths,  with  feelings 
of  hilarity  as  to  a  sort  of  breaking- 
up  day.  By  this  means  the  powerful 
association  which  should  connect 
devotion  as  the  end  of  the  Sabbath, 
and  moral  benefit  as  the  ultimate 
object  of  the  Sunday-school  system, 
is    considerably    weakened.       How 


much  more  is  this  the  case  when  the 
sermon  is  attencfed  with  all  the  in- 
fluence of  a  grand  musical  perform- 
ance ! — J.  A.  Jaines. 

926.  May  injui'e  the  Ohildren. — 
A  principle  of  just  and  laudable 
emulation  may  be  implanted  and 
cherished,  without  transforming  and 
degrading  it  into  a  thirst  for  admir- 
ation, which  is  almost  sure  to  be  the 
case  where  the  children  are  called 
upon  to  make  a  display  of  their 
talents  in  public.  Praise  will  ever 
be  found  injurious  in  proportion  to 
these  two  circumstances  :  first,  the 
publicity  with  which  it  is  given; 
and,  secondly,  the  ignorance  of  the 
person  on  whom  it  is  conferred.  If 
this  be  correct,  the  children  of  a 
Sunday-school  should  be  exposed  as 
little  as  possible  to  iniblic  applause. 
A  love  of  display  is  very  soon  pro- 
duced, and  with  great  difficulty  de- 
stroyed. Nor  is  the  mischief  con- 
fined to  those  who  are  the  subjects 
of  public  distinction.  The  rest  of 
the  children,  instead  of  directing 
their  attention  to  improvement  on  its 
own  account,  begin  to  regard  it  and 
pursue  it  only  as  the  road  to  ad- 
mii'ation  and  distinction.  Let  either 
pride  or  vanity  be  generally  che- 
rished among  the  labouring  classes, 
and  the  worst  consequences  may  be 
expected  to  accrue  to  society.  The 
evils  which  it  was  once  predicted 
would  result  from  the  instruction  of 
the  poor,  were  the  mere  chimeras  of 
a  disordered  fancy :  not  so  the  ap- 
prehensions which  arise  from  inju- 
dicious efforts  \o  force  the  growth  of 
their  understanding,  hg  corruj)ting 
the  simplicity  of  their  hearts.  No 
single  vice  to  which  the  human  soul 
is  subject  is  a  more  effectual  obstacle 
in  the  way  of  his  salvation  than 
pride.  ''  How  can  ye  believe,"  said 
our  glorious  Eedeemer  to  the  Phari- 
sees, "which  receive  honour  one  of 
another  ?  " — J".  A,  James, 


372 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WOELD. 


927.  Should  be  well-conducted.  I 
— I  have  always  counted  much,  upon  { 
the  influence  of  an  interesting  and  i 
well-arranged  anniversary,   as  very  j 
important  in  a  Sunday-school.    And  j 
for  this  reason,  I  have  been  unwilling  j 
to  merge  my  own  local  anniversary  i 
in  any  common  meeting  of  cliildren  | 
in  school  iinions  either  of  places  or 
churches.     The  orderly  influence  of 
an  appointed  and  regular  anniversary, 
as   a  point  in  arranging  and  com- 
pleting the  year's  work  and  plans,  is 
very  valuable  ;  it  brings  every  part 
of  the  work  up  to   a  fixed  settle- 
ment, and  thus  gives  additional  force 
to  the  system  and  method  of  opera- 
tion,  and  to  the  consciousness  and 
feeling   of  responsibility.     If  well- 
conducted,  the  exercises  of  an  anni- 
versary give  solidity  to  the  aspect  of 
the  school — attract  attention  to  it — 
tend  to  enlarge  its  bounds  by  bring- 
ing in  other  children — give  a  mea- 
sure of  satisfaction  and  contentment 
to  the  scholars  and  teachers  engaged 
— and  make  the  whole  work  appear 
as  an  actual  and  important  part  of 
the  congregation  and  church  to  which 
the  school  belongs. — Dr.  Tyng. 

828.  May  absorb  too  much 
Time,  &c. — In  these  cases  the  best 
singers  among  the  children  are  fre- 
quently selected  to  take  a  share  in 
the  performance ;  some  in  parts, 
others  in  solos.  To  prepare  them  for 
this,  much  time  must  be  spent  in 
private  tuition.  At  these  exercises, 
at  which  no  seriousness  of  mind  can 
be  preserved,  and  which  are  gene- 
rally seasons  of  great  entertainment, 
they  are  accustomed  to  treat  the 
most  solemn  and  affecting  topics  of 
religion  with  lightness  and  irrever- 
ence, till  the  mind  grows  gaily 
familiar  with  them,  and  the  heart 
becomes  insensible  to  all  that  is 
awful  in  their  nature  and  impressive 
in  their  influence.  It  is  a  most  de- 
structive effect  when  children   ac- 


quire the  habit  of  treating  sacred 
subjects  in  any  way,  and  on  any  ac- 
count, in  a  trifling  manner.  Thus 
injured  by  preparation,  their  hearts 
are  still  more  corrupted  by  the  per- 
formance. Exhibited  to  the  public, 
sometimes  dressed  beyond  their  sta- 
tion, to  please  by  their  appearance 
and  captivate  by  their  melody,  they 
cannot  fail  to  perceive  how  com- 
pletely the  end  of  their  exhibition  is 
answered.  From  that  hour  they  lie 
exposed  to  all  the  pernicious  influ- 
ence of  pride  and  vanity.  Older, 
and  wiser,  and  holier  minds  than 
are  possessed  by  the  children  of  a 
Sunday-school,  have  found  that  ad- 
miration has  a  poisonous  efiect  upon 
genuine  vii'tue  ;  who,  then,  can  won- 
der if  the  latter,  amidst  the  weak- 
ness of  their  age  and  station,  feel  its 
deleterious  ^influence?  Even  the 
ordinary  singing  of  every  Sabbath's 
worship,  where  children  have  been 
employed  in  the  choir,  and  exposed 
to  the  view  of  the  congregation,  has 
been  known,  in  many  instances,  to 
generate  a  love  of  display,  and  a 
feeling  of  vanity,  exceedingly  inju- 
rious to  theii-  intellectual  and  moral 
improvement.  How  much  more  on 
those  extraordinary  occasions  to 
which  I  allude !  Let  children  be 
once  led  to  imbibe  the  idea  that  they 
are  taught  to  sing  for  entertainment, 
or  any  other  purpose  than  as  an  act 
of  genuine  devotion;  let  them  once 
be  led  to  associate  it  with  the  idea 
of  obtaining  applause ;  and  they  are 
then  in  a  fair  way  of  seeking  to  dis- 
play their  vocal  powers  for  the  sake 
of  gaining  admiration,  in  company 
and  places  very  unfriendly  to  every 
principle  of  sound  morality  and 
genuine  piety. — J.  A.  James. 

929.  Object  of  Teacher  may  be 
diverted, —  Nor  does  the  mischief 
end  here.  The  teachers  themselves 
are  apt  by  these  means  to  lose  the 
simplicity    of    their    aim   and     the 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WOELD. 


373 


spirituality  of  their  mind.  Their 
attention  is  drawn  oif  from  the 
spiritual  part  of  the  institution,  and 
their  ambition  directed  to  making 
such  an  exhibition  as  shall  secure 
applause.  As  anniversary  sermons, 
however,  cannot  wholly  be  dispensed 
with,  nor  all  public  exhibition  of  the 
children  prevented,  all  that  remains 
for  us  to  do  is  to  be  careful  that 
they  be  attended  with  as  little  dissi- 
pation, and  wdth  as  much  devotion 
and  decorum  as  possible.  But  as 
for  the  practice  of  making  them  oc- 
casions for  a  grand  musical  perform- 
ance, it  is  a  custom  replete  with  mis- 
chief, both  to  the  children  and  their 
teachers ;  a  custom  which  is  hasten- 
ing to  corrupt  the  simplicity  of 
Christian  worship,  and  undermine 
the  sanctity  of  the  Christian  Sab- 
bath ;  a  custom  which  converts  the 
temple  of  God  into  a  concert-room, 
and  employs  the  pulpit  to  hallow,  if 
possible,  the  performance.  It  is 
quite  time  for  some  voice  to  be 
raised  against  the  practice,  or  at 
least  to  suggest  to  the  managers  of 
the  school,  to  inquire  how  far  it  can 
be  justified. — J.  A.  Jaines. 

930.  Sunday-school  Excursions. 
— An  excursion,  especially  from  the 
crowded  city  to  the  green  woods  or 
pleasant  fields,  is  a  pleasant  thing, 
provided  it  be  rightly  managed. 
There  is  something  benevolent,  too, 
in  the  idea  of  taking  the  children  of 
poverty  fi-om  heated  attics,  and 
swarming,  mephitic  streets,  down 
the  flowing  river  and  across  the 
rippling  bay,  to  spend  a  day  under 
heaven's  broad  canopy  and  in  the 
untainted  air.  It  may  be  well,  too, 
for  children  to  associate  a  day  of 
innocent  pleasure  with  the  institu- 
tion which  is  their  religious  educator. 
All  this  we  concede  to  a  Sunday- 
school  excursion  in  the  abstract. 
Now  our  ideal  excursion  supposes 
that  the  spirit  of  the  institution  it 


represents  be  embodied  in  it.  Con- , 
stituted  authority,  order,  cheerful- 
ness, moderation,  and  piety  preside 
over  it.  Unknown  and  irresponsible 
persons,  amusements  of  doubtful 
character,  roystering  and  license, 
are  excluded  from  it.  Its  partici- 
pants, young  and  old,  are  all  known 
to  the  officers  or  teachers,  are  sub- 
missive in  all  things  to  the  con- 
ductors of  the  school,  attend  the 
religious  exercises  proper  to  the 
occasion,  and  go  home  feeling  that 
they  have  spent  both  a  pleasant  and 
profitable  day  —  profitable  to  the 
body,  cheering  to  their  flagging 
spirits,  and  encouraging  to  their 
religious  aspirations.  Now,  if  our 
city  Sunday-school  excursions  are  of 
this  character,  we  wish  to  be  counted 
among  their  advocates  and  sup- 
porters, albeit  we  have  little  or  no 
time  to  attend  them.  But  are  they? 
Can  a  large  city  Sunday-school  get 
up  and  conduct  an  excursion  in  that 
spirit  of  cheerful  Christianity  which 
should  characterise  evenj  gathering 
of  a  Sunday-school?  That's  the 
question.  Brethren  familiar  with 
these  excursions  can  best  answ^er  it. 
We  have  heard  of  excursions  pre- 
ceded by  the  indiscriminate  peddling 
of  tickets  by  the  children  on  the 
Sabbath,  so  as  to  make  the  affair  a 
paying  one  to  the  school,  and  at- 
tended by  swarms  of  disorderly 
youths,  boys  defiant  of  aU  autho- 
rity, shouting  and  rushing  round 
the  boat  or  barge  like  wild  Indians, 
to  the  discomfort  of  nervous  ladies 
and  the  terror  of  little  girls.  We 
have  heard  of  excursions  at  which 
"Copenhagen,"  and  similar^  silly 
games,  whose  only  charm  is  in  the 
kissing  which  accompanies  them, 
were  the  staple  amusements  of  the 
day;  at  which  romping,  fiddling, 
and  dancing  were  tolerated ;  w^here 
the  swinging  was  monopolised  by 
rude,  romping  girls ;  and  from 
which  religion  was  whoUy  excluded. 


374 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


We  do  not  affirm  that  these  abuses 
are  general,  or  that  they  have  oc- 
curred in  connection  with  thp  schools 
of  our  Church,  or  that  they  are  in- 
separable from  excursions.    We  only 
affirm  that  such  things  have  been 
described  to  us,  and  that  we  have 
in  our  lifetime  witnessed   some   of 
them,  very  much  to  our  grief  and 
morti£cation.     We  need  hardly  add, 
that  to  any  excursions  at  which  any 
or  all  of  these  abuses  are  tolerated 
we  are  decidedly  hostile.     They  are 
im-Christian,  demoralising,  destruc- 
tive of  the  very  aims  for  which  our 
Sunday-schools   are   organised.     To 
our  schools,  which  will  have  excur- 
sions, we  add  a  few  cautions.    Beware 
of   these    abuses.     Don't   turn   the 
house  of  God  into  a  house  of  mer- 
chandise, nor  transform  your  pupils 
into  peddlers,  in  your  endeavours  to 
raise  the  needful  funds.     Do  secular 
work   on   secular   days.      Don't  let 
unknown  persons   attend  your  ex- 
cursion.    Satan  often  mingles  with 
the  sons  of  God.     Beware  of  him  on 
excursion  days !     Allow  no  disorder 
before  starting,  on  the  boat   or   in 
the  cars.     Banish  silly  games  from 
the    ground.     Tolerate    nothing    in 
speech  or  act  that  tends  to  excite  a 
blush    on    the    cheek   of   modesty. 
Give  your  children  something  to  do. 
Let  them  do  the  speaking  and  sing- 
ing.    They  will  enjoy  the   day  far 
better  than  they  can  by  playing  all 
the  time.     Encourage   cheerfulness. 
Discoui-age  levity  and  boisterous  fun. 
In  short,   conduct  the  excursion  in 
harmony  with  the  following  prin- 
ciples: — 1.    Let  not  your  good  be 
evil  spoken  of.     2.  Avoid  doing  evil 
that   good  may  come.      3.  Let   all 
things    be    done    decently    and    in 
order. — Atnerican  S.  S.  Scrap  Book. 

931.  Pestivals. — Pic-nics,  exhi- 
bitions, and  the  like,  are  all  rather 
dangerous  things  in  connection 
with  Sunday-schools.  In  very  sound. 


discreet,  judicious  Christian  hands, 
they  are  often  productive  of  good  to 
all  concerned ;  while  under  young, 
giddy,  thoughtless  management, 
they  sometimes  result  in  evil.  Great 
caution  should,  therefore,  be  used. 
It  will  require  much  more  grace  and 
wisdom  to  conduct  a  Sunday-school 
exhibition  than  it  will  an  ordinary 
service  of  the  school.  Says  one 
writer:  ^^  Show  children  are  some- 
times got  up  and  exhibited,  as  if 
they  were  as  insensible  to  flattery 
as  prize  poultry.  A  word  to  the 
wise  is  sufficient." — Pardee. 


rOEEiaN  MISSIOirS   TO    THE 
HEATHEJif. 

932.  A  Caution.— A  Sabbath- 
school  must  not  be  turned  into  a 
Juvenile  Missionary  Society.  We 
have  seen  with  regret  children  blamed 
for  not  bringing  the  expected  con- 
tribution, and  a  rivalry  between 
different  teachers,  as  to  who  could 
collect  the  most  money  in  his  class. 
We  need  be  very  careful  that  no 
plans  be  adopted,  which  might  tend 
to  make  the  giving  of  money  essen- 
tial to  remaining  in  the  school.  Let 
the  children  be  instructed  and  inte- 
rested in  all  the  great  movements  of 
the  age,  and  encouraged,  but  not 
forced,  to  aid  them.  If  every  offering 
is  not  free  and  spontaneous,  it  will 
be  impossible  to  prevent  unhealthy 
and  invidious  distinctions  between 
the  children.  As  regards  the  mere 
obtaining  of  money,  we  believe  the 
safer  plan  is  to  circulate  missionary 
boxes.  Let  every  child  that  likes 
have  one ;  if  they  only  collect  six- 
pence, it  matters  not.  Once  a  year 
let  the  boxes  be  called  in,  and  the 
sum  total  alone  be  mentioned;  lest 
the  poor  should  be  mortified  at  the 
smallness  of  their  sums.     All  vain- 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WORLD. 


875 


glorying,  pride,  seeking  the.  applause 
of  men,  must  be  sedulously  kept 
down ;  and  purity  of  motive,  single- 
ness of  purpose,  enforced  on  our  be- 
loved scholars. — Davids. 

933.  Children  should  be  in- 
stmcted  in  this  Matter, — In  the 
first  place,  the  duty  of  doing  good 
and  of  self-denial,  as  taught  in  the 
Scriptures,  should  be  carefully  taught 
them.  This  is  a  part  of  that  Bible 
knowledge  which  it  is  the  object  of 
the  Sabbath- school  to  inculcate.  The 
passages  of  Scripture  which  enjoin 
the  duty  of  giving,  or  which  contain 
examples  of  it,  should  be  hunted  up 
and  explained,  and  made  familiar. 
Such  a  study  will  be  of  the  utmost 
advantage  to  them  and  to  the  Church. 
Christian  people  are,  in  the  main, 
sadly  deficient  in  precisely  this  kind 
of  Scriptui'e  knowledge.  In  the  next 
place,  the  children  should  be  made 
acquainted  with  the  work  of  Chris- 
tian missions.  The  school  and  the 
classes  should  be  furnished  with  mis- 
sionary maps  and  charts,  so  that  the 
scholars  can  become  familiar  with 
the  principal  localities  in  which  mis- 
sionaries are  operating.  ]^Iissionary 
narratives  should  be  put  into  their 
hands,  or  be  told  to  them.  They 
should  be  instructed  in  regard  to  the 
debasing  idolatries  of  the  heathen, 
and  the  dreadful  cruelties  practised 
among  idolators.  When  any  par- 
ticular Church  or  denomination  has 
become  identified  with  some  special 
field  among  the  heathen,  let  the  chil- 
dren of  that  Church  or  denomination 
be  instructed  in  the  fact,  that  they 
may  grow  iip  with  the  feeling  of  a 
sort  of  personal  interest  in  it.  In 
the  third  place,  teachers  and  super- 
intendents should  seek  to  create 
among  the  childi'en  a  missionary 
spirit.  By  this  is  meant,  not  merely 
liberality  in  giving,  and  zeal  in  col- 
lecting money,  but  a  love  for  the 
work  itself.     This  will  be,  indeed,  a 


legitimate  result  of  the  two  previous 
provisions.  If  the  young  are  well 
instructed  in  "What  the  Scriptures 
teach  as  to  this  great  matter,  and  in 
what  the  Church  is  doing  in  carrving 
it  out,  they  can  hardly  fail  to  fall  in 
with  the  general  current  of  Christian 
feeling.  They  will  come  to  regard 
their  missionary  society  as  being  so 
called, 'not  because  it  collects  money 
for  missions,  but  because  its  mem- 
bers all  have  the  missionary  spirit, 
and  are  in  fact,  in  a  very  important 
sense,  all  missionaries.  A  school 
that  is  so  organised,  and  so  animated, 
will  not  only  raise  money  largely  for 
the  support  of  missions,  but  its  own 
members  will  be  found,  from  time  to 
time,  filling  the  missionary  ranks. — 
Dr.  Hart. 

934.   The  Main  Object  of  the 
■  S.  S.     not    to    be    overlooked. — 
I  begin   by  saying  that   I   do   not 
i  think  it  advisable  to  organise   our 
!  Sabbath-schools   into    regular    mis- 
j  sionary  societies,  temperance  socie- 
;  ties,  education  societies,  &c.     I  am 
'  acquainted  with  some  schools  which 
;  have  all  these,  with  the  addition  of 
'  anti-slavery  and  colonisation  socie- 
ties ;  and  if  the  Christian  community 
should  be  further  divided  into  par- 
ties,   would    doubtless    have    every 
party  represented.     It  seems  to  me 
that  the  great  object  of  the  institu- 
tion is   the    Sabbath-school,    and   I 
should  tremble  to  be   the  one  who 
should  turn  it,  or  begin  to  turn  it, 
from  its  appropriate  work.     The  ob- 
'ject  is  to  take  children  of  all  ages, 
;  conditions,    habits,    prejudices,    and 
j  infiuences,  to  teach  them  the  Word 
of  God,  and  to  form  their  characters 
upon  that  Word.     There  can  be  but 
one    predominant    object    before    a 
school,  and  the  rest  must,  of  course, 
be  subordinate.     That  predominant 
object  shoidd  be  to  teach  the  Bible, 
and  to  lead  the  souls  of  the  children 
to  God.     It  must  never  be  lost  sight 


376 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL  WOELD. 


of.  For  example,  if  I  am  teaching 
my  class  to-day  the  parable  of  the 
ten  vii'gins,  I  wish  no  other  object  to 
come  before  the  mind.  I  wish  to  teach 
that  particular  thing  so  plainly,  so 
clearly,  and  so  forcibly,  that  it 
shall  never  be  forgotten.  My  work 
for  the  day  is  to  do  this.  ISTow,  I 
cannot  do  it  if  the  attention  of  the 
school  is  to  be  diverted,  and  if  a  part 
of  the  time  they  are  to  act  as  a  mis- 
sionary, a  tract,  a  temperance,  or 
any  other  society.  Every  teacher 
must  feel  that  his  object  is  nothing 
less  than  to  see  each  of  his  pupils 
embracing  Christ,  and  growing  up 
in  holiness.  If  a  school  becomes  a 
missionary  society,  and  takes  that 
character,  that  object  becomes  the 
predominant  object,  is  more  thought 
of,  talked  of,  calculated  upon,  than 
any  other  object.  Is  this  best? — 
Todd. 

935.  A  Sunday-school  not  a 
Money-coUecting  Machine. — It  is 
not  to  be  denied  that  serious  mistakes 
have  been  committed  in  the  prosecu- 
tion of  the  missionary  cause  in  Sabbath 
schools.  A  school  may  be  converted 
into  a  mere  machine  for  collecting 
money.  When  such  is  the  case,  it  is 
a  grievous  evU,  alike  to  the  mission 
cause  and  the  Sabbath- school  cause. 
But  such  a  result  is  not  a  necessary 
one,  nor  is  it  a  common  one.  On  the 
contrary,  the  cases  are,  according  to 
my  observation,  quite  exceptional. 
Those  schools  which  have  most  of 
the  missionary  spirit,  and  do  most 
for  the  cause,  are  usually  the  best  as 
schools.  They  are  most  flourishing 
as  to  numbers,  they  are  the  best 
organised,  they  are  making  the  best 
progress  in  Scriptural  knowledge, 
and  they  record  annually  the  greatest 
number  of  conversions. — Dr.  Hart. 

936.  Lessons  and  the  Mission 
Cause. — But,  in  addition  to  this, 
there   should  be  frequent   opportu- 


nities taken  to  deduce  missionary 
lessons  from  the  ordinary  exercises 
of  the  school.  The  pervading  mis- 
sionary spirit  in  all  lessons  is  of  vital 
consequence.  There  are  very  few 
subjects  which  will  not  aiford  oppor- 
tunity for  a  passing  remark  on  this 
point ;  and,  when  judiciously  used 
by  a  faithful  teacher,  will  do  much 
to  impregnate  the  minds  of  scholars 
with  one  of  the  most  important  doc- 
trines of  the  Gospel,  and  one  of  the 
most  happy  exercises  for  Christian 
discipleship.  Then  there  is  the  em- 
ployment of  the  missionary  box.  It 
is  a  duty  to  train  the  young  to 
Christian  liberality.  By  this  you 
teach  parents  also.  The  scholars 
may  have  little  money ;  but  the 
power  of  littles,  when  multiplied,  is 
very  great.  The  penny  postage  is 
little,  but  it  yields  a  large  revenue, 
employs  many  persons,  and  diffuses 
immense  information.  The  penny 
from  each  of  a  million  of  scholars 
put  once  a  month  into  the  mission- 
arv  box  would  give  an  income  of 
£50,000  a  year  \—Dr.  Steel. 

937.  Eelation  of  Missions  to 
the  Yonng.  —  Missionary  labour, 
whether  in  the  foreign  field  or  at 
home,  has  to  do  mainly  with  the 
young.  Missionaries,  of  course,  do 
not  neglect  the  adult.  But  they  find 
it  exceedingly  hard,  up-hill  work  to 
convert  a  pagan  who  has  been  tho- 
roughly confirmed  in  idolatrous  prac- 
tices, or  to  reform  an  immoral  man 
who  has  spent  a  long  life  in  sin. 
Hence  all  our  missionaries,  every- 
where, direct  their  main  energies  to 
the  young.  The  school,  even  more 
than  the  church,  is  at  fii'st  the  scene 
of  their  labours.  If  the  problem  be 
to  reclaim  here  at  home  some  city 
suburb,  or  some  vile  neighbourhood, 
which  has  become  too  bad  for  suc- 
cessful interposition,  even  by  the 
police,  the  first  step  by  Christian 
people   who   would    briag    about   a 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOKLD. 


377 


change,  is  to  plant  a  mission- school 
and  bring  in  the  miserable  outcast 
children.    So,  in  heathen  lands.   The 
missionaries  are  often  hooted  at,  and 
scorned,  and  maltreated  by  the  men 
and  women,  who  remain  a  long  time 
insensible   to   kindness,    and  unap- 
proachable by  argument.     But  the 
confidence  of  the   children  is  soon  | 
won.     That   same   benignity  which  i 
drew  the    Jewish  children  towards  j 
Jesus,  draws  the  young  Chinese  and 
Hindoos    to    His    disciples.      Their 
affection   and   their    confidence   are 
won  by  kindness. — Dr.  Hart. 

938.  The  Monthly  Missionary 
Meeting. — Select  some  mission-field, 
and  give  briefly  its  history.  ' '  We 
have  India  as  our  subject  to-day — 
rather  one  of  the  missions  in  India, 
one  thousand  miles  north  of  Cal- 
cutta," said  a  superintendent  to  us, 
on  taking  our  seat  in  his  school. 
*'One  of  the  elder  scholars  has  just 
read  a  short  paper  respecting  the 
topography  and  geography  of  the 
country,  and  I  am  going  to  give 
them  a  few  facts  in  regard  to  the 
mission,  its  beginning,  its  trials,  its 
growth,  converts,  etc."  Interest  a 
school  in  the  topography  of  a  heathen 
field  of  labour,  its  people,  their  social 
and  domestic  life,  and  you  enlist 
their  attention  and  sympathy.  Hav- 
ing their  sympathy,  it  is  easy  to 
secure  their  contributions. — House. 

939.  Effect  on  after  Life.— 
Another  reason  why  Sabbath- schools 
should  be  organised  into  missionary 
associations,  is  that  when  the  scholars 
become  men  and  women,  they  will 
be  more  likely  to  take  through  life 
an  active  interest  in  this  great  causu. 
In  fact,  when  a  whole  congregation 
thus  from  childhood  grows  up  with 
the  habit  of  working  in  the  cause, 
the  habit  becomes  fixed.  It  becomes 
taken  for  granted  that  every  one  is 
to  work  for  this  cause,  and  to  .con- 


tribute to  it.  It  is  too  obvious  to 
need  argument,  that  a  congregation 
thus  trained  is  more  to  be  relied  on 
for  a  steady  and  liberal  support  of 
missions,  than  one  in  which  the 
whole  matter  is  left  to  be  argued 
and  demonstrated  solely  among  the 
adults.  Any  denomination  is  wise, 
which,  by  its  ecclesiastical  arrange- 
ments, fosters  the  policy  of  enlisting 
all  its  youth,  through  its  Sabbath- 
schools,  in  the  work  of  propagating 
the  Gospel.  Some  of  our  most  in- 
fluential denominations  have  already 
distinctly  inaugurated  such  a  policy, 
and  with  the  most  marked  and 
happy  effect. — Dr.  Hart. 

940.  Money  given  shoiild  be  the 
Children's  own. — Benevolent  contri- 
butions in  our  Sunday-schools  are 
assuming  an  attitude  of  much  im- 
portance, and  it  is,  therefore,  a  point 
that  needs  to  be  well  guarded  from 
danger.  It  is  very  important  that 
our  children  be  early  taught  the 
principles  and  practice  of  benevo- 
lence ;  of  caring  for  the  ignorant 
and  destitute,  and  doing  them  good 
according  to  their  several  abilities. 
They  should  especially  be  taught  to 
earn  and  save  money,  instead  of 
asking  parents  for  it.  Let  it  all  be 
real  and  sincere.  Grreat  care  should 
also  be  taken  with  the  children  to 
give  for  definite  objects,  and  thus 
secure  for  them  careful  reports  of 
what  is  done  with  their  money.  "We 
should,  however,  most  strictly  con- 
form to  these  legitimate  objects,  and 
on  no  account  permit  them  to  inter- 
fere in  any  way  with  the  great  work 
of  teaching  the  Bible;  and  guard 
them  especially  against  being  so  con- 
ducted as  to  foster  pride,  envy,  and 
vain-glory.  This  can  and  should  be 
done.  The  small  penny  rivulets  of 
the  millions  of  Sunday-school  chil- 
dren, uniting,  have  swelled  to  a 
mighty  stream,  enlivening  and  re- 
freshing many  a   dark  moral  waste 


378 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


in  our  own  and  other  lands,  carrying 
untold  blessings  to  myriads,  and 
therefore  we  are  the  more  solicitous 
to  keep  the  fountain  pure  and  free. 
— Pardee. 

941.  The  Money  should  he  earned 
by   the    Scholar. — Then,    too,    the 
money  that  is  given  should  be  earned 
by  the   scholars.      It  is  the   saved 
penny, — the  penny  that  costs  some- 
thing,— that  does  the   boy  and  girl 
good,    that    makes  missionaries   of 
them.     How  shall  we  get  the  chil- 
dren's saved  pennies  ?  In  a  thousand 
ways.     This  little  piece  of  ribbon — 
holding  up  a  strip  of  faded  red — has 
done  more  good  than  I  can  describe 
to  you.     I  was  once  speaking  at  a 
youth's  missionary  meeting,  on  the 
spirit  of  self-denial  for  Christ's  sake, 
and  a  little  Irish  Catholic  girl  came 
to  me  with  something  in  her  hand. 
It  was  this  piece  of  ribbon.     ' '  Mr. 
"Wells,"  she  said,  *'  do  you  think  you 
could  get  a  penny  for  that?"     "  I 
don't    know    but    I     could,    child. 
Where  did  it  come  from  ?"     And  as 
I   looked  at  the  little  thing,  I  saw 
that  one-half  of   the  ribbon   of  her 
bonnet — and  there  was  not  much  left 
— corresponded  with  the  piece  in  her 
hand.      It  came  from  her   bonnet ! 
She  had  cut  it  off!     I  looked  on  the 
marker — she  had  made  of  it  a  plain 
book-marker — and   saw  the   words, 
♦' Zorf7,  sare."     "Nellie,  where  did 
you  get   that  motto?"     "That's  a 
little  prayer  I  say  every  day,  and  I 
love  it  so  much  I  thought  I  would 
put  that  on."     I  saw  that  little  girl, 
with  nine  scholars  in  that  Sunday- 
school,  come  out  to  make  their  pro- 
fession of  faith  in  Jesus  Christ ;  and 
I  believe  that  one  of  the  earliest  acts 
she  ever  did  was  this  little  one  of 
taking  the  ribbon  from   her  bonnet 
for  Jesus. — House. 

942.  Pocket  Money  and  Missions. 
— Some  parents  give  to  their  children 


a  stated  allowance,  with  the  express 
imderstanding  that  it  may  be  used 
in  any  way  the  children  please,  unless 
for  something  wrong   or   forbidden. 
This  allowance  is  intended  as  part  of 
their  education.     It  is  to  train  them 
to  a  knowledge  of  the  right  uses  of 
money.    It  is,  therefore,  most  impor- 
tant to  keep  before  the  minds  of  such 
children  the  noble  ends  for  which 
money  may  be  used,  and  to  lead  them, 
from  their  earliest  years,  to  feel  that 
they,  like  all  others,  must  exercise 
self-denial    in    order    to    do    good. 
Besides  what  is  thus  allowed  to  some 
children    as    pocket-money,    many 
young  persons  are  in  the   habit  of 
earning    small    sums   by   voluntary 
services    in  time  w^hich  is   allowed 
them  as  their  own  by  their  parents. 
It  is  obvious  that  money  thus  ac- 
quired   is   a  legitimate   subject  for 
beneficence.     Children  in  these  cir- 
cumstances  are   in    danger    of    two 
evils,    the   opposite   of    each    other. 
They   are    in    danger  of    becoming 
spendthrifts  on  the  one  side,  or  on  the 
other  of  becoming  misers.  It  is,  there- 
fore, rendering  them  a  most  important 
service  to  educate  their  consciences  to 
the  duty  of  gi^ing,  to  cultivate  their 
sensibilities  by  presenting  to  them 
the  destitute  condition  of  those  who 
are  without  the  Gospel,  and  to  induce 
them    voluntarily,    as    a  matter   of 
duty    and    of    compassion,    to    be 
economical  and  thrifty  on  the  one 
side,  in  order  to  their  being  liberal 
and  charitable   on  the   other. — Dr. 
Hart. 

943.  Juvenile  Collector  Si— Besides 
the  money  which  children  give  of  their 
own,  they  make  excellent  collectors. 
Few  persons  like  to  refuse  an  applica- 
tion from  a  young  child  for  money  for 
the  missionary  cause.  Nor  do  these 
small  sums,  thus  bestowed  by  fathers 
and  mothers,  and  aunts  and  uncles, 
and  guests,  to  help  fill  up  the  little 
one's  missionary  box,  diminish  aught 


STJNDAT    SCHOOL   WOKLD. 


379 


from  tlie  contributions  wliicli  these 
persons  give  in  their  own  name  for 
the  same  cause.  On  the  contrary, 
their  hearts  are  rather  warmed 
towards  the  cause  by  seeing  the 
interest  which  it  has  enlisted  in  the 
heart  of  their  darling.  Giving  begets 
giving.  Giving  to  please  the  little 
one,  makes  it  only  a  greater  pleasure 
to  give  on  their  own  account.— i)r. 
Hart. 


EXTSA  MEETIliraS. 

944.  Old  Scholars'  Meetings. — 
These  are  among  the  most  interesting 
of  all  meetings  held  in  connection 
with  Sabbath- schools.  They  are  of 
two  kinds.  At  one  a  public  tea  is 
provided;  tickets  sold  to  all  who  apply, 
sixpence  or  one  shilling  each.  On 
the  tea  being  removed,  anv  of  the 
old  scholars  that  like  speak  to  the 
meeting  ;  state  the  churches  with 
which  they  are  connected,  the  position 
they  now  occupy  in  life,  and  the 
benefits  they  have  derived  from 
Sabbath- school  tuition.  Prayer,  sing- 
ing, and  addresses  from  various 
ministers,  fill  up  the  time. — Davids. 

945.  Their  Projector.  —  ''  The 
useful  Christian,"  Thomas  Cranfi.eld, 
was  the  iii'st  projector  of  old  scholars' 
meetings,  which  have  been  the  means 
of  many  Sabbath-school  revivals,  and 
will  yet  confer  still  greater  benefi.ts 
on  the  Church  and  the  world.  Those 
held  by  him  seem  greatly  to  have 
encouraged  him  and  his  fellow- 
labourers,  animating  and  cheering 
them  in  their  peculiarly  arduous 
fi.eld  of  labour. — Davids. 

946.  Children's  Meetings.  — 
These  meetings  are  now  becoming 
not  only  very  important,  but  very 
interesting,  both  to  children  and  to 
adults.     Sometimes  Sabbath  eveninor 


is  set  apart  for  it  every  week  or  every 
month ;  in  other  cases  a  weak-day 
evening  is  chosen,  and  familiar  and 
instructive  lectures  given.  In  other 
instances,  again,  a  public  children's 
meeting  follows  the  regular  teaching 
hour  on  Sabbath  afternoons.  If  well 
conducted,  these  meetings  are  among 
the  most  acceptable  and  profi.table 
and  crowded  of  all  the  religious 
assemblages  in  a  community.  The 
great  word  to  study  in  the  plan  of 
such  a  meeting  is — adaptation.  It 
shouldbe  adapted  not  only  to  the  little 
children,  but  also  to  the  older,  and 
especially  to  the  young  men  and 
women,  as  well  as  parents  and 
friends,  who  may  be  present.  If  it 
is  held  on  the  Sabbath,  the  great 
idea  of  worshipping  God  should  never 
be  lost  sight  of  for  a  single  moment. 
The  reply  may  be,  "To  do  this,  and 
at  the  same  time  to  adapt  all  the 
services  to  all  the  various  ages  and 
classes,  is  a  very  difficult  matter." 
Of  course  it  is  difficult,  but  not  im- 
possible. The  speaker  to  children, 
when  in  the  presence  of  adults, 
should  always  choose  a  train  of 
thought  and  illustration  which  will 
not  only  reach  the  children,  but  in- 
terest, instruct,  and  impress  the 
older  ones.  A  little  special  prepara- 
tion and  saving  of  materials  just 
adapted  to  such  occasions  will  ac- 
complish it.  The  hymns  and  music 
should  be  appropriate  and  devotional, 
and  only  such  as  the  children  are 
familiar  with  and  love  to  sing.  '  The 
prayers  should  be  short  and  simple, 
in  order  that  all  the  children  can 
join  in  them.  A  few  verses  only  of 
Scripture  should  be  read,  but  they 
shoiild  be  made  plain  and  interesting 
to  all. — Pardee. 

947.  Their  Utility.— There  is  one 
class  of  youth,  to  whom  it  might  be- 
came an  incalculable  blessing :  I 
mean  the  elder  boys  and  girls  who 
have  just  left  our  schools,  and  who 


380 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


are  generally  considered  as  gone 
beyond  our  care.  Tims  abandoned 
by  us,  it  is  too  commonly  the  case 
that  they  lose  all  the  little  impression 
they  have  received  while  under  our 
instruction.  Could  they  be  collected 
together  on  a  Sabbath  evening,  to  be 
taught  by  the  senior  and  more  pious 
members  of  our  churches,  who  would 
interest  themselves  in  their  welfare, 
what  a  blessing  might  be  expected  to 
accrue ! — J.  A.  James. 

948.  Boys'  Meetings. — This  is  a 
modern  thing,  but  it  grew  out  of  the 
warm,  earnest  sympathy  of  excellent 
Christians  for  the  worst  class  of 
street-boys  of  New  York.  They 
were  attracted  by  the  fine  music 
taught  them,  the  interest  and  kind- 
ness manifested  toward  them,  and 
the  stirring,  pointed,  interesting 
stories  in  which  religious  truth  was 
clothed,  as  it  was  spoken  to  them  ; 
and  the  energy  and  capability  which 
first  started  those  meetings  could 
sustain  them  now  on  the  same  basis. 
Latterly,  they  assume  more  the 
general  form  of  young  people's  meet- 
ings, being  composed  of  a  majority 
of  boys  and  girls  from  Christian 
families,  or  at  least  Sunday-schools, 
and  most  of  them  contain  but  a  few 
of  the  rough  street  boys.  They  are 
a  stepping-stone  to  a  good  Sunday- 
school.  Youths'  attractive  papers 
are  circulated  at  the  close.  Interest- 
ing popular  lectures,  made  very 
familiar  and  plain,  on  practical  sub- 
jects, are  sometimes  enjoyed  on  the 
week-day  evenings. — Pardee. 

949.  Social  Meetings  of  the  Class 
should  be  held  now  and  then,  and 
pains  should  be  taken  to  make  them 
attractive  and  useful.  Young  men ! 
and  women  must  have  their  social 
nature  regarded.  The  teacher  should, 
on  such  occasions,  strive  to  recall  the 
freshness  and  vivacity  of  his  own 
youth,  and  live  it  over  again  ;  enter 


into  it  heartily,  and  show  the  class 
his  acquaintance  and  sympathy  with 
all  their  peculiar  wants,  fears,  and 
trials.  Band  the  young  people  to- 
gether, in  social  bonds  and  mutual 
pledges,  if  you  please,  to  attend 
church,  prayer-meeting,  and  Sab- 
bath-school, to  read  the  Bible,  and 
pray  regulai'ly,  and  perhaps  pledge 
also  against  improper  reading,  asso- 
ciates, games,  drinking,  smoking,^ 
late  hours,  neglect  of  the  Sabbath, 
and  unite  them  in  associated  literary 
eftbrts,  in  tract  missions,  Sabbath- 
school  work,  in  visitation,  and  in  all 
ways  of  doing  good.  There  should 
be  social  prayer-meetings  of  the 
class  at  convenient  times.  Have, 
also,  a  well-chosen  library  for  them, 
and  point  out,  from  time  to  time,  the 
books  best  adapted  to  peculiar  wants 
and  circumstances." — Pardee. 


SENIOK   CLASSES. 

950.  The  Grand  Desideratum. — 
Pursuant  to  the  opinion  expressed 
by  Mr.  Horace  Mann,  in  his  admir- 
able report  on  the  education  returns 
of  the  census  of  1851,  "The  senior 
class  is  the  grand  desideratimi  to  the 
pel  feet  working  of  the  Sunday-school 
system,  for  without  some  means  of 
continuous  instruction  and  main- 
taining influence  when  the  scholar 
enters  the  most  critical  period  of 
life,  the  chances  are  that  what  has 
been  already  done  will  prove  to  have 
been  done  in  vain."  His  observa- 
tions also  on  the  mode  of  conducting 
and  sustaining  such  classes  are  well 
worthy  of  record.  "  But  in  propor- 
tion to  the  importance  of  these  senior 
classes  is  the  difficulty  of  establish- 
ing and  conducting  them,  a  higher 
order  of  teachers  being  needful, 
whose  superiority  of  intellect  and 
information  shall  command  the  will- 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WORLD. 


381 


ing  deference  of  tlie  scliolars,  while 
their  hearty  sympathy  with  those 
they  teach  shall  render  the  connec- 
tion rather  one  of  friendship  than  of 
charity.  Such  classes,  too,  will  not 
be  long  continued  with  efficiency 
unless  the  teacher  feels  so  strong 
an  interest  in  his  pupils  as  to  make 
their  secular  prosperity  a  portion  of 
his  care.  It  is  obvious,  therefore, 
that  the  scheme  requires  for  its  com- 
plete development  more  aid  from 
those  who  are  in  age,  position,  and 
intelligence,  considerably  superior 
to  most  of  the  present  teachers,  and 
who  hitherto  have  very  sparingly 
contributed  their  personal  efforts  to 
the  cause  of  the  Sunday-school." — 
Heijort  on  Census  o/'1851.  Horace 
Mann. 

951.  The  Greatest  Want.  — 
Charles  Eeed,  Esq.,  one  of  the  most 
eminent  Sunday-school  men  of  Great 
Britain,  on  being  asked  what  was 
the  greatest  want  in  the  Sunday- 
school  work,  replied,  "  Spiritually- 
minded  teachers,  and  separate  rooms 
for  the  Bible  classes." — House. 

952.  First  suggested  in  America. 
—  The  establishment  of  distinct 
classes  for  scholars  who  had  arrived 
at  the  age  of  fourteen  or  fifteen,  and 
who  were  disinclined  to  remain  in 
the  ordinary  classes  of  the  school  was 
first  suggested  by  the  teachers  of 
America.  In  order  to  preserve  these 
scholars  under  religious  influences,  it 
was  proposed  to  establish  distinct 
schools,  to  which  the  elder  scholars 
of  other  schools  might  be  trans- 
ferred, and  where  a  more  enlarged 
course  of  Scripture  instruction  might 
be  entered  upon. — *S'.  S.  Teachers'' 
Mag.  1826. 

953.  The  Old  Plan.— For  many 
years,  it  was,  on  the  one  hand,  the 
custom  not  to  admit  very  young 
children,  and  on  the  other,  to  dismiss 
them  when  they  had   attained  the 


age  of  fourteen.  This  dismission  was 
made  an  event  of  some  solemnity  ; 
Bibles  were  publicly  presented  to 
the  retiring  scholars,  often  by  the 
minister,  and  suitable  advice  given. 
Thus,  so  far  as  the  teachers  were 
concerned,  the  influence  of  the 
school  over  these  young  persons  was 
withdrawn  at  a  period  when  it  was 
peculiarly  needed.  As  the  young 
children  were  prevented  from  enter- 
ing until  they  had  in  many  cases 
acquired  evil  principles  and  practices 
which  gave  anxiety  and  trouble  to 
their  teachers,  so  those  young  per- 
sons in  whom  the  good  effects  of  re- 
ligious training  might  be  expected  to 
be  found  were  separated  from  their 
teachers,  who  thus  lost  the  oppor- 
tunity of  continuing  that  training 
and  of  witnessing  its  results  in  their 
consecration  to  the  service  of  Jesus 
Christ. —  Watson. 

954.  The  too  Big  Scholar.— 
He  is  fast  attaining  the  stature  of 
man.  Several  preliminary  hairs 
sprout  on  his  upper  lip.  His  voice 
is  no  longer  the  squeak  of  infancy, 
or  the  treble  of  boyhood,  but  is 
changing  to  a  manly  bass.  He  has 
cast  aside  his  former  round  jackets, 
and  arrayed  himself  in  a  coat  with 
amply  flowing  skirts  and  other  indi- 
cations of  manhood.  His  head  is 
made  uncomfortable  by  the  presence 
of  a  high -crowned  hat,  and  his  mind 
is  disturbed  by  fear  of  accident  to 
the  shining,  silky  surface  of  the 
same.  Some  of  the  younger  boys 
have  threatened  to  throw  water  upon 
it.  As  he  is  passing  through  that 
very  ticklish  period  of  life  in  which 
his  full  manhood  may  be  questioned, 
he  is  very  particular  about  having  it 
understood  that  he  is  no  longer  a 
boy,  but  a  man.  He  makes  up  his 
mind  that  the  surest  way  of  proving 
to  the  world  that  he  is  a  man,  is  to 
hold  no  more  associations  with  boys. 
So  he  seriously  considers  whether  or 


382 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


not  he  can  afford  to  go  to  Sunday- 
school  any  more.     He  does  not  break 
off    at  once,  for  he  has  a  struggle 
with  himself  about  it.     He  used  to 
love  the  school.     He  commenced  in 
the  infant  department.      The  grey- 
haired  mother  in  Israel,  who  was  in 
the  prime  of  life  when  he  was  her 
three-year-old  scholar,  often  speaks 
of  what  a  good  little  boy  he  used  to 
be.       The    teachers     under    whose 
charge  he  was,  while  in  the  larger 
school,  feel  kindly  towards  him,  and 
hope  that  he  is  not  going  to  leave ; 
and  he  knows  that  he  ought  not  to 
finish  his  religious   education  now. 
But  the  young  men  with  whom  he 
keeps  company  sneer  so  much  at  the 
school,  that  they  have  almost    per- 
suaded him  never  to  set  foot  within 
its  doors  again.     So  he  comes  some- 
times,   and   stays  away   sometimes, 
feeling  quite  ill  at  ease  about  it,  de- 
vising weak  excuses  for  his  absence, 
and  giving  every  reason  but  the  real 
one.       He  still  retains   a    nominal 
connection  with  the   Bible -class,   of 
which  he  has  been  a  member  for  a 
year  or  two.     But  he  and  the  Bible- 
class  seem  to  be  of  little  advantage 
one  to   the  other.     He  has  grown  in 
bodily  stature  rather  than  in  Biblical 
knowledge  during  his  stay  in  it.     Is 
this  young  man  to  be  saved,  or  to  be 
thrown   overboard  ?       Is    he    worth 
keeping,  or  shall  we  frown  at  him, 
and  induce  him   to    prefer   staying 
away    from     school  ?      "We     want 
him.     We  cannot  afford  to  lose  him. 
There  is  work  for  him  to  do.     "  He 
do  any  work  ?  "  says  an  unbelieving 
teacher.     The  idea  has  obtained  cur- 
rency that  the  young  man  is  above 
work.     He  needs  more  teaching  than 
he  has  had,  and  especially  the  kind 
of    teaching   which   \a\\   show  him 
how  to  work.     The  teacher  who  will 
succeed  in  making  him  learn   any- 
thing more  than  he  akeady  knows, 
will   succeed  in  a  \eTj  hard   task. 
Such  teachers  are  scarce.     How  and 


where  shall  we  teach  him?     How? 
Gather  all  such  young  persons  into 
a  class  by  themselves,  and  put  them 
under  the   care  of  the  kindest  and 
most  judicious    man     that  can  be 
found.       Not   a  long-winded  man, 
who  will  weary  them  with  tedious 
preaching ;  not  a  dismal  man,  who 
will  drive  them  away  with  his  dole- 
ful   exhortations ;    not    an    austere 
man,  who  will  shake  his  head  and 
make   grim   faces   at   them,    but   a 
good,     warm-hearted     Christian — a 
man   of   tact   and  enterprise.     One 
who  remembers  that  he  was  once  a 
young  man,    passing    through    this 
critical  state,  will  do  better  than  one 
of  the  stately  sort,   who  never  was 
yoimg.     Where  ?    In  a  room  by 
themselves.     The  neatest,  prettiest, 
and  most  commodious  room  that  can 
be  had.     If  there  is  not  one,  build 
it  "UT.thout  a    week's  delay.       You 
cannot  invest  its  cost  in  a  more  pay- 
ing enterprise.     Let  it  be  light  and 
cheerful ;     clean,    comfortable,    and 
attractive.      A  neat  bookcase,  con- 
taining a  moderate  library,  is  indis- 
pensable.     Furnish  the   walls  with 
good  maps  and  charts,  which,  if  the 
teacher  understands  using  them,  will 
afford  a  ceaseless  fund  of  profitable 
instruction.     In  this  private  room  of 
their   own  they   can  enjoy  freedom 
fi'om  w^hat  is  to  them  the  irksome 
restraint  imposed  on  little  children. 
They  can  sing  their  own  hymns,  and 
that  as  noisily  as  they  please.     They 
can  call  themselves  the  men's  class, 
if  they  like  the  name.     They  can  be 
saved  from   being  nuisances  to  the 
church    people,   w'hom   they  would 
otherwise  annoy  by  hanging  around 
the    doors,    gates,    and   curb- stones. 
They  can  be  kept  fr-om  vicious  asso- 
ciates, who  would  drag  them  to  ruin. 
And  when  they  graduate  from  the 
groMTi-up   class,    it    will   not   be  to 
break  loose  from  instruction  and  re- 
ligion,   and   become   Sabbath  vaga- 
bonds,  but  to   re-enter  as  teachers 


I 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL  WORLD. 


383 


the  same  rooms  in  wliicli  they  were 
formerly  little  hoys,  and  in  their 
turn  to  engage  in  the  good  work  of 
teaching  youthful  sinners  the  way  of 
salvation. — Taylor. 

955.  Oomposition  of  Adult  Class, 
The  adult  class  is  composed  of  persons 
whose  early  education  has  been  ne- 
glected, or  of  those  who,  though  they 
have  gone  through  the  other  classes 
of  the  school,  still  love  to  linger 
within  its  holy  place,  saying — 

"  I  have  been  tliere,  and  still  will  go  ; 
'Tis  like  a  little  heaven  beloTr." 

This  should  be  emphatically  a  Scrip- 
ture class.  Of  course,  so  are  the 
others  ;  but  the  members  of  this 
class  should  be  encouraged  to  study 
the  Word  of  Grod  for  themselves,  to 
prove  Scripture  by  Scripture,  and 
otherwise  to  become  familiar  with 
its  sacred  truths.  The  teacher  should 
be  very  kind  and  condescending  to 
each,  and  endeavour  to  secure  con- 
fidence. They  should  be  addressed 
with  great  solemnity,  and  the  duty 
of  personal  religion  pressed  earnestly 
on  their  souls.  Indeed,  this  must 
never  be  omitted  in  any  class  exer- 
cise. "We  do  not  want  to  make  our 
scholars  learned  so  much  as  wise  unto 
salvation.  Their  sinfulness  should 
therefore  be  often  stated ;  the  danger 
of  the  unconverted  pointed  out ;  the 
offer  of  a  free  Grospel  through  the  love 
of  God  and  death  of  the  Saviour 
declared,  and  immediate  acceptance 
urged  with  all  solemnity.  The  teacher 
is  the  Lord's  watchman,  and  to  de- 
liver his  own  soul,  must  warn  and 
rebuke  and  exhort  with  all  authority. 
*'  He  that  winneth  souls  is  wise.^^ — 
Br.  Steel. 

956.  Present  Practice. — In  most 
of  the  large  Nonconformist  Sunday- 
schools  in  England,  numerously 
attended  adult  or  senior  classes  will 
be  found,  some  of  which  attain 
colossal  proportions,  and  it  is  not  till 


then  that  they  entirely  forsake  the 
schoolroom  for  the  chapel  and  lecture 
hall.  The  good  that  is  done  by  these 
classes  cannot  be  over-estimated.  .  .  . 
We  are  ourselves  connected  with  a 
class  of  between  forty  and  fifty 
young  men,  into  which  no  new 
member  is  admitted  who  is  under 
nineteen  years  of  age.  It  was  our 
happiness  only  a  few  days  ago  to 
recognise  five  of  these  young  men 
on  the  occasion  of  their  becoming 
teachers.  Four  out  of  the  five  were 
church-members,  two  were  married 
men,  and  one  the  father  of  four 
children.  The  last-named  had  been 
in  the  school  for  upwards  of  eighteen 
years,  and  formed  his  connection  with 
it  by  joining  the  infant-class.  We 
know  another  class  in  which  a  little 
time  ago  not  fewer  than  thirty- six 
of  its  members  were  seat-holders  in 
the  chapel  with  which  it  is  connected. 
Such  instances  as  these  might  be  mul- 
tiplied to  almost  any  extent,  but  these 
will  suffice  to  prove  our  point — that  a 
total  disseverance  of  the  senior  classes 
from  the  general  school  is  far  from 
being  necessary. — The  Sunday-school 
Teacher. 

957.  Young  Men  and  Women's 
Bible  Classes. —  We  can  hardly 
find  words  to  convey  our  impression 
of  the  surpassing  importance  of  these 
classes.  To  train  teachers,  to  train 
mothers  and  fathers,  to  restrain 
from  doubtful  company,  and  to  fur- 
nish good  companions  and  Christian 
associations,  reading,  habits,  im- 
pulses to  the  young  men  and  women 
of  this  generation,  is  a  work  worthy 
of  the  highest  aspirations  of  the  best 
and  noblest  of  our  race.  If  we  look 
at  the  census,  we  cannot  fail  to  notice 
the  striking  fact  that  a  little  more 
than  one-third  of  the  entire  popula- 
tion of  New  York  are  young  men 
and  women  over  fifteen  and  under 
thirty  years  of  age,  while  more  than 
one-half  of  our  population  is  under 


884 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WOELD. 


twenty  years  of  age.  In  a  very  short 
time  the  destinies  of  our  country  and 
of  onr  churches  will  be  in  the  hands 
of  these  young  people.  To  a  large 
extent  they  have  been  neglected  in 
the  family,  in  society,  in  the  Sab- 
bath-school, and  in  the  church  ;  and 
as  Dr.  James  TV.  Alexander  said: 
"Be  it  ever  remembered,  that  the 
neglecters  of  the  Church  have  been 
neglected  by  the  Church."  These 
young  people  can  no  longer  be  petted 
as  children,  and  they  are  not  gene- 
rally treated  with  the  respect  due  to 
them  as  rising  young  men  and 
women.  Said  a  youth  of  fifteen 
once  :  "  Uncle,  I  don't  know  what  I 
can  do  with  myself.  I  am  too  old  to 
play  with  children,  and  I  am  not  old 
enough  to  be  interesting  to  the  older 
people."  This  anomalous  position 
such  young  people  sadly  feel.  They 
are  sensitive,  beyond  any  other 
period  of  life,  to  any  slight  or  ne- 
glect, and  after  a  vain  struggle  to 
gain  a  recognition  and  position 
anywhere,  they  rush  to  the  gilded 
saloons  or  the  giddy  dance  for  that 
sympathy,  kindness,  and  regard 
which  they  vainly  seek  for  in  the 
family,  the  Sabbath-school,  and  the 
Church  of  Christ. — Pardee. 

958.  A  Caution. — There  is  dan- 
ger of  making  a  Bible  class  too  much 
resemble  the  divinity  class  of  a 
theological  school ;  the  literature  of 
the  Bible  may  supersede,  as  a  study, 
a  thorough  investigation  of  the  spi- 
ritual meaning,  and  the  practical 
bearing  of  the  text. —  Winshw. 


959.  ]^o  Pixed  Plan.— IS^  sys- 
tem, no  routine  can  be  laid  down  for 
these  classes :  they  must  not  be  wil- 
fully interfered  with;  their  "like" 
must  be  studiously  consulted  ;  they 
must  be  allowed  to  come  late  or 
earlj^,  once  or  twice  in  the  day, 
without  even  the  semblance  of  re- 
proof ;  they  must  never  be  forced  to 
attend  public  worship  ;  they  must 
have  their  own  way  to  a  great  ex- 
tent, at  first;  and,  if  they  are 
taught  in  a  separate  apartment,  no 
collateral  evil  will  arise.  The  rein, 
so  long  thrown  on  their  necks,  must 
be  very  gradually  tightened ;  indeed 
so  gently,  that  they  perceive  it  not. 
We  must  do  as  the  Apostle  did,  catch 
them  by  guile  ;  become  all  things  to 
all  men,  if  by  any  means  we  may 
win  some. — Davids. 

960.  Courtesy  in  the  Teacher. — 
It  is  indispensable  that  the  teacher  of 
such  a  class  should  always  be  cour- 
teous. Religion  should  at  least  make 
its  possessor  a  gentleman,  and  this  the 
young  people  all  know  right  well. 
His  whole  life  and  bearing  wiU  in- 
fluence the  little  circle.  The  per- 
sonal appearance  also  should  be  duly 
regarded.  Says  a  teacher:  "The 
manner  of  a  teacher  should  always 
be  marked  by  these  qualities  :  1 . 
Animation — a  quickened,  active  state 
of  the  whole  soul;  2.  Intention — 
the  aim  and  endeavour  to  impart  th<5 
information  required ;  3.  Earnest- 
ness— zeal  in  executing  the  instruc- 
tion."— Pardee. 


IX.     ENCOURAGEMENTS. 


GENEEAL  PEINOIPLES. 

961.  Gospei  Motives. — In  a  for- 
mer number  of  the  Teacher  it  was 
said  by  an  excellent  contributor  that 
''  Whoever  "would  work  wisely  and 
with  success,  must  have  clearly 
before  him  the  ends  he  wishes  to 
accomplish."  It  is  equally  true  that 
the  work  to  be  wisely  and  successfully 
done  needs  to  be  contemplated  as  to 
the  grounds  of  encouragement  which 
are  presented  by  it.  The  ends  to  be 
reached^  and  the  incentives  for  reach- 
ing it  are  clearly,  closely  allied. 
When  once  an  object  is  presented  to 
be  accomplished,  we  should  also 
know  what  are  the  motives  or  in- 
ducements offered  to  secure  it.  From 
both  observation  and  experience  I 
am  persuaded  it  is  quite  easy  to 
become  discouraged  in  the  work  of 
teaching  in  the  Sunday-school.  It 
has,  every  one  who  has  tried  it  must 
admit,  its  discouraging  features. 
Hence  it  is  that  sometimes  good  and 
well-meaning  teachers  come  to  their 
superintendents  and  ask  to  be  excused 
from  further  service  in  the  work  of 
teaching.  And  the  request  is  by  no 
means  always  made  because  of  a 
desire  purely  to  be  released  from 
work.  They  feel  incompetent,  or, 
at  least,  have  deemed  their  past 
teaching  unsuccessful.  And  so  it 
becomes  necessary  to  present  ever  and 
anon  the  high  and  noble  incentives, 
the  precious  Gospel  motives  for  con- 
tinuing faithful  in  the  work  of  teach- 


ing. Some  of  the  encouragements 
which  may  be  offered  are  the 
following : — 

1.  The  command  of  the  (Saviour. 
— The  Divine  Master  has  made  it 
obligatory  upon  every  one  of  His 
followers,  who  is  not  providentially 
hindered,  to  work  for  Him  in  His 
vineyard.  And  surely  no  one  will 
deny  that  the  Sunday-school  in  our 
day  is  a  very  important  part  of  that 
vineyard.  It  may  safely  be  said  that 
no  better  opportunity  for  work  can 
be  found  than  that  presented  where 
the  children  and  youth  are  gathered 
together.  The  explicit  command  of 
Jesus,  "  Feed  my  lambs,"  is  surely 
not  restricted  to  pastors,  much  less  to 
Peter  the  apostle,  to  whom  first 
addressed.  It  is  made  the  duty  of 
every  Christian,  who  has  ability  and 
opportunities,  to  "  feed,"  educate, 
and  train  the  children  and  youth  for 
Christ  and  heaven.  If,  then,  the 
Saviour  has  laid  this  responsibility 
upon  His  disciples,  let  the  Sunday- 
school  teacher  be  encouraged  humbly, 
faithfuUj^,  and  prayerfully  to  do  the 
specific  work  assigned  him.  If  Jesus 
has  commanded  a  duty,  He  will 
certainly  not  fail  to  give  all  needed 
grace  and  strength  for  its  accom- 
plishment. 

2.  The  pleasiD'e  of  toil  for  the 
blaster. — He  who  is  a  true  Christian, 
and  has  not  been  slothful  in  business, 
but  "fervent  in  spirit,  serving  the 
Lord,"  knows  well  that  there  is  deep 

I  pleasure  derived  from  the  service  of 


186 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL    WORLD. 


Ckrist.    And  where  can  that  pleasure 
be  greater  than  in  training  and  fitting 
immortal   souls   for  heaven  ?     Is  it 
possible  to   conceive  of  any  nobler 
or  more  blessed  work  ?     Would  not 
angels  rejoice  at  the  privilege  ?   How 
much  more,  then,  ought  we  who  have 
been  redeemed  by  "precious  blood." 
That  earnest,  pious,  and  consecrated 
man  of  God,  Harlan  Page,  had  the 
joy,  on  a  dying  bed,  of  looking  back 
upon  a  life  of  usefulness,  and  of  being 
assured  that  he  had  been  the  humble 
instrument  in  the  hands  of  God,  of 
saving,  at  least,  owe  himdred  souls. 
But   does   any  one  suppose  his  joy 
was  all  concentrated  in  that  dying 
hour  ?     Surely  not  !     Each   deed  of 
kindness,  and  each  word  of  love  had 
a  reflex  influence,  and  blessed  himself. 
His  constant  service  for  the  Master 
was  a  constant   source  of  pleasure. 
And  so  it  will  prove  to  the  devoted 
and  praying  teacher.     Though  many 
a  trial  will  come  and  many  a  temp- 
tation arise,  though  the   clifiiculties 
are  great  and  the  discouragements  at 
times    depressing,    yet    the  joy    of 
service  for  Jesus'  sake  will  be  ample 
remuneration,    and    must    prove    a 
ground   of    decided   encoui-agement. 
3.   Spiritual  groivth  secured  hy  it. 
— Undoubtedly  the  primary  purpose 
in  view  is  to  benefit  those  who  are 
taught.     But  while   this  is  so,  the 
teacher  must  not  forget  that,  if  faith- 
ful to   duty,  he  is    also  benefiting 
himself.       The     precious     seed    of 
heavenly    truth    will    not    only    be 
lodged    in    the   soil  of  each  tender 
heart  of  boy  or  girl,  but  it  will  also 
find  its  way  into  the  depths  of  his 
own  heart,  and  prove  an  actual  means 
of  blessing  to  himself.     Unconverted 
teachers  have  been  known  to  be  con- 
verted through  their  own  teaching. 
Can  it  then  be  doubted  that  those 
who  are  already  Christians  will  fail 
of  being  blessed  by  a  careful  and 
prayerful  study  of  the  Word  of  God, 
and    its  faithful   exposition  to   the 


class  ?  Our  Saviour  has  taught  us 
that  it  is  our  duty  to  "  search  the 
Scriptures,"  and  we  learn  that  by 
means  of  the  truth  the  glorious  work 
of  sanctification  is  carried  on  in  the 
soul  of  the  believer.  Surely  the 
godly  aspirant  for  holiness  will  be 
glad  to  use  that  means  Divinely 
prescribed  for  its  attainment.  And 
thus,  while  teaching  others,  he  is 
teaching  himself,  and  fitting  himself 
for  higher  joys  and  larger  usefulness. 
Let  the  teacher,  then,  not  be  dis- 
couraged from  doing  that  work  which 
will  secure  his  sure  spiritual  growth, 
and  thus  promote  the  honour  of  his 
Saviour. 

4.  The  promise  of  success. — If 
every  business  man  had  the  same 
promise  of  success  that  the  Sunday- 
school  teacher  has,  with  what  earnest 
zeal  and  heroic  endurance  he  would 
go  through  the  labour  of  each  day. 
iS'othing  would  discourage  his  heart, 
or  give  his  face  the  despondent  look. 
Surely,  then,  the  teacher  ought  not 
to  be  discouraged  or  despondent. 
The  mission  he  performs  is  transcen- 
dently  above  that  of  the  mere 
business  man,  and  demands  an 
interest  and  enthusiasm  commen- 
surate with  its  importance.  But 
the  business  man  7nay  fail,  the 
teacher  never.  God,  that  cannot 
lie,  has  promised  success.  .*'  My 
word  shall  not  return  unto  Me  void." 
"  He  that  goeth  forth  and  weepeth, 
bearing  precious  seed,  shall  doubtless 
{i.  e.  shall  surely)  come  again  with 
rejoicing,  bringing  his  sheaves  with 
him." 

"  Thou  canst  not  toil  in  vain  ; 

Cold,  heat,  and  moist  and  dn', 
Shall  foster  and  mature  the  grain 
For  garners  in  the  sky." 

— Hev.  James  Lish. 

962.  Approval  of  Conscience. — 
You  have  a  reward  in  the  conscien- 
tious conviction  of  having  attempted 
to   do   something  for  the   cause  of 


SUNDAY  SCHOOL  TVOELD. 


387 


Christ.  The  satisfaction  of  an 
earnest  eiFort  is  much  to  a  serious, 
true-hearted  soul.  This  is  regarded 
by  God.  The  offering  of  youi'  ser- 
vices arises  as  incense  from  the  altar. 
"We  are  unto  God  a  sweet  savour 
of  Christ,  in  them  that  are  saved, 
and  in  them  that  perish."  The  work 
of  faith  depends  not  on  its  success  for 
its  reward.  It  is  judged  by  itself ; 
is  estimated  according  to  its  motive 
and  zeal,  and  is  rewarded  accord- 
ingly. This  is  more  than  the  satis- 
faction of  a  good  conscience.  It  is 
recognition  by  the  great  Judge,  who 
assigns  to  the  fidelity  the  honoiu' 
that  is  due.— Dr.  Steel. 

963.  Not  to  judge  alone  by  what 
is  seen. — Some  persons  have  fre- 
quently experienced  considerable 
discouragement  in  this  great  and 
good  work,  by  not  seeing  more 
visible  benefit  result  to  the  lower 
classes  of  society  from  these  efforts. 
I  have  said  much  already  on  this 
head:  I  beg  leave,  however,  in  ad- 
dition to  remark,  that  there  are  two 
ways  by  which  to  judge  of  the 
benefit  resulting  from  this  mode  of 
education.  The  first  is  by  consider- 
ing the  good  communicated,  and, 
secondly,  the  evil  prevented.  On  the 
first  I  have  already  had'  occasion  to 
dwell.  This  is  incalculable  and  in- 
conceivable. I  shall,  however,  make 
a  few  remarks  upon  the  second  cri- 
terion, the  evil  prevented.  Xow, 
admitting  all  that  can  be  said  about 
the  present  profligacy  of  multitudes 
of  the  labouring  classes,  and  the 
alarming  increase  of  juvenile  delin- 
quency which  has  been  discovered 
during  the  last  twenty  years,  still  let 
us  take  into  the  account  the  evil  that 
has  been  prevented.  It  should  be 
recollected,  that  since  the  Sunday- 
school  system  has  been  in  operation, 
the  commerce  of  this  country  has 
swelled  to  unparalleled  greatness. 
This  has  been  attended,  of  course, 


with  a  proportionate  increase  of  po- 
pulation. It  is  not,  perhaps,  saying 
too  much,  if  we  affirm  ,  that  the 
labouring  classes,  in  most  manufac- 
turing districts,  have  almost  trebled 
in  number  since  Robert  Raikes  com- 
menced his  exertions  at  Gloucester. 
Let  it  be  conceived,  then,  what  might 
have  been  the  state  of  things  now,  if 
these  accumulated  masses  of  the  po- 
pulation had  been  left  as  an  intel- 
lectual chaos  for  the  spirit  of  mis- 
chief to  brood  upon  amidst  the 
clouds  of  ignorance.  The  period  now 
alluded  to  has  been  a  season  of  un- 
common peril  to  the  national  morals. 
Infidelity  at  one  time  made  desperate 
eftbrts  to  corrupt  the  public  mind, 
not  only  of  the  higher,  but  also 
of  the  lower,  classes  of  society. 
Paine' s  writings  were  especially  ad- 
dressed to  the  passions  and  pre- 
judices of  the  multitude.  During 
the  greater  part  of  this  period  the 
lower  classes  of  society  have  also 
been  exposed  to  the  demoralising 
influence  of  a  state  of  warfare.  The 
military  system,  which  has  been 
adopted  to  such  an  unprecedented 
extent  in  the  annals  of  British  his- 
tory, has  had  a  direful  influence  upon 
the  morals  of  the  poor.  It  must  also 
be  admitted,  that  while  they  have 
thus  had  an  opportunity  of  trying 
their  physical  strength,  very  many 
efforts  have  been  employed  at  differ- 
ent times  to  inflame  their  passions 
against  one  party  or  other  in  the 
troubled  regions  of  politics.  Their 
just  importance  in  the  body  politic 
was  never  so  well  known  before,  nor 
were  they  ever  before  in  such  danger 
of  abusing  it.  To  all  this  must  be 
added  the  impossibility,  if  they  were 
generally  so  disposed,  of  gaining  ac- 
cess to  the  solemnities  of  public 
worship,  on  account  of  the  dispro- 
portion between  the  population  and 
the  temples  of  religion.  Now,  let 
all  these  things  be  taken  into  the 
account.       Let    it    be    remembered 


s  2 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOKLD. 


what  increased  opportunities  have 
been  afforded  for  their  corrupting  and 
being  corfupted  ;  let  it  also  be  re- 
collected what  principles  of  corrup- 
tion have  been  actually  at  work  ;  and 
then  it  will  be  evident,  that  it  can  be 
ascribed  only  to  the  gradual  difi^asion 
of  moral  principle  by  the  means  of 
Sunday-schools  that  these  mischiefs 
have  been  counteracted,  and  the 
labouring  classes  restrained  in  any 
degree  within  the  bounds  of  subor- 
dination and  order.  When,  there- 
fore, we  look  at  them  as  they  are, 
and  lament  how  little  real  good  has 
been  done,  let  us,  at  the  same  time, 
rejoice  to  contemplate  how  much  evil 
has  been  prevented. — J.  A.  James. 

964.  Work  done  for  Christ  can- 
not be  lost. — Nothing  is  lost  that  is 
done  in  the  name  of  Christ,  and  for 
the  glory  of  God  and  the  good  of 
men.  It  is  recorded  by  the  All- 
seeing;  it  is  self-registered  on  the 
tablets  of  the  Divine  Omniscience. 
The  electric  currents  of  the  spiritual 
world  are  affected  by  what  is  done 
here,  and  make  their  own  record  in 
the  archives  of  the  Divine  remem- 
brance.— Dr.  Steel. 

935.  Our  Eecord  is  on  High. — 
Men  need  not  keep  a  record  of  their 
good  deeds  :  not  one  of  them  will  be 
forgotten  by  the  Faithful  and  True 

Witness. 

966.  IJature  of  Children.— You 
have  every  encouragement  to  labour 
faithfully,  and  to  cultivate  diligently 
your  interesting  department.  In- 
fancy is  the  spring-time  of  being, 
the  seed-time  of  existence ;  pecu- 
liarly the  season  of  impression.  The 
truth  of  God  may  find  very  early 
entrance  into  the  infant  breast :  the 
tender  conscience,  the  child-like  feel- 
ing, the  tenacious  memory,  will  all 
assist  the  devoted  teacher.  The  long- 
period  of  time  during  v/hich  they  are 
placed  within  the  reach  of  your  in- 


fluence, frequently  three  or  four 
years,  should  encourage  and  stimu- 
late your  endeavours ;  and  if  you 
seek,  as  the  end  of  all  your  teaching, 
their  conversion,  now  while  under 
your  care,  in  the  large  majority  you 
ivill  prohahly  obtain  it. — Davids. 

967.  Do  Good  for  its  own  Sake. 
— Do  good  for  its  own  sake,  and  let 
your  reward  arise  from  the  con- 
sciousness of  doing  it.  "A  good 
man  shall  be  satisfied  from  himself." 
Imitate  the  conduct  of  your  adorable 
Redeemer,  who  ever  went  about 
doing  good,  amidst  insensibility  and 
ingratitude  sufficient,  one  should 
have  thought,  to  make  infinite  mercy 
itself  weary  in  well-doing. — J.  A. 
James. 

968.  Character  of  Scholars. — 
The  teacher  is  rewarded  by  the  dili- 
gence and  attention  of  his  class. 
These  encourage  his  efforts,  his 
prayers,  and  his  zeal.  When  docil- 
ity, affection  and  progress  charac- 
terise his  pupils,  the  teacher  believes 
that  his  labour  is  not  in  vain.  The 
opening  intelligence,  the  impressed 
heart,  and  regular  attendance  of  his 
class,  reward  his  preparations  and 
efforts.  When  the  outward  life  of  his 
scholar  seems  to  improve,  and  is  a 
manifest  result  of  lessons  given  in 
the  school,  the  soul  of  the  teacher 
swells  with  thankfulness,  and  reaps 
a  harvest  for  his  pains. — Dr.  Steel. 

969.  Eight  to  desire  Eesults. — 
It  is  both  natural  and  right  that  the 
Cluistian  labourer  should  desire  to 
see  results,  and  yet  it  may  be  that 
the  "  Lord  of  the  harvest"  does  not 
permit  us  to  see  them  so  speedily  as 
we  desire,  to  stimulate  us  to  greater 
self-denial  and  exertion ;  to  keep  us 
humble  amidst  the  many  temptations 
to  self-sufficiency  and  self-glorifica- 
tion ;  or  to  lead  us  to  examine  our- 
selves as  to  our  motives  and  the 
means  we  are  adopting  to  secure  the 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WORLD. 


389 


end  at  which  we  aim.  Let  us  re- 
member, that  while  we  are  frequently 
exhorted  in  Scripture  to  steadfast 
■  perseverance,  the  promises  of  success 
are  coupled  with  a  recognition  of  the 
dij03.culty  of  our  work,  and  a  tendency 
to  faintheartedness  to  which  we  are 
so  prone.  Thus  we  read  "cast  thy 
bread  upon  the  waters"  and  "thou 
shalt  find  it  after  many  days ; "  "He 
that  goeth  forth  and  weepeth,  bear- 
ing precious  seed,  shall  doubtless 
come  again  with  rejoicing,  bringing 
his  sheaves  with  him;"  "Be  not 
weary  in  well-doing,  for  in  due  sea- 
son ye  shall  reap  if  ye  faint  not." — 
W.  CidcenveU. 

970.  A  Window  in  Heaven. — 
If  there  be  a  window  in  heaven  from 
which  the  blessed  inhabitants  can 
look  upon  this  lower  world  ;  or  if  a 
door  be  opened  through  which  the 
spirits  of  the  just  made  perfect  are 
ever  permitted  to  visit  the  scenes  of 
their  terrestrial  labours  ;  0  who  can 
conceive  the  ecstacies  with  which  the 
soul  of  Raikes  must  hover  over  the 
captivating  scene  !  What  a  mighty 
reflux  of  delight  must  roll  back  from 
the  tide  of  his  benevolence,  and  reach 
him  even  upon  the  heavenly  side  of 
the  shores  of  eternity !  What  acces- 
sions must  be  continually  made  to 
his  bliss,  while  another  and  another 
soul  is  continually  arriving  in  the 
realms  of  glory,  to  tell  its  inhabi- 
tants they  were  converted  to  God  in 
a  Sunday-school!  But  here  conjec- 
ture fails  us. — J.  A.  James, 

971.  Early  Habits.— All  great 
men  have  attributed  their  success 
more  to  the  mental  and  moral  habits 
ae(|uired  in  early  life,  than  to  any- 
thing else.  Even  the  temper,  the 
disposition,  is  formed  by  acquired 
habits,  so  that  one  who  is  naturally 
irritable,  may  become  a  calm  man. 
^Todd. 


972.  Our  Labour  not  in  Vain. 
— Our  labour  shall  not  be  in  vain. 
Every  stroke  laid  on  as  God  would 
have  it  laid  on,  will  produce  its 
efiect.  Work  done  for  the  love  of 
Christ,  and  in  the  power  of  the 
spirit,  cannot  be  unavailing.  We 
toil  in  one  corner  of  a  gigantic  build- 
ing, and  the  scaffolding  prevents  us 
from  knowing  exactly  what  progress 
has  been  made.  We  are  artists  with 
dim  eyesight,  and  in  a  darkened  room 
painting  a  picture.  The  brush  seems 
to  fall  sometimes  without  effect  upon 
the  canvas.  We  think  that  little  or 
nothing  has  been  done.  But  the  day 
is  coming  when  the  light  will  stream 
in,  and  the  picture  shall  be  seen; 
when  the  scaffolding  shall  be  re- 
moved, and  the  building  appear  in 
all  its  fair  and  glorious  beauty ;  and 
then,  knowing  as  we  are  known,  we 
shall  know  also  that ' '  our  labour  has 
not  been  in  vain  in  the  Lord." — 
Hand-hooh.     House. 

973.  Unforeseen Eesults.— Where 
you  design  only  the  improvement  of 
individuals,  God,  through  those  in- 
dividuals, may  make  you  the  instru- 
ments of  blessing  multitudes.  Where 
you  intend  only  to  produce  private 
worth,  God  may  employ  your  zeal  to 
form  public  excellences.  You  may 
be  the  means  of  cherishing  and  de- 
veloping intellectual  energies,  which 
shall  one  day  be  of  the  greatest  bene- 
fits to  the  civil  interests  of  society. 
And,  what  is  more  important,  you 
may  be  imparting  the  first  rudiments 
of  that  knowledge  and  piety  which, 
in  their  maturity,  may  be  employed 
by  God  in  the  service  of  the  sanc- 
tuary. Ministers  are  already  preach- 
ing that  Gospel  to  others  which  they 
themselves  first  learnt  in  a  Sunday- 
school  ;  and  missionaries  are  win- 
ning the  savages  of  the  desert  with 
the  sweet  wonders  of  that  Cross  which 
was  first  displayed  to  their  own  view 
by  the  efforts  of  a  faithful  teacher. 


390 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOEU). 


Snch  instances,  in  all  probability, 
will  occur  again,  and  are  fairly  witbin 
the  scope  of  yonr  ambition.  In  such 
a  case  who  can  trace  the  progression 
of  your  usefulness,  or  tell  into  how 
wide  a  stream  it  shall  expand  as  it 
rolls  forward  in  a  course  never  to  be 
arrested  but  by  the  sound  of  that 
trumpet  which  shall  proclaim  that 
time  shall  be  no  more?  —  J.  A. 
James. 

974.  Example  of  Indirect  In- 
fluence.— Many  years  ago,  Eichard 
Sibbes  wrote  a  book,  which  possibly 
some  of  you  have  read,  entitled,  ''The 
Bruised  Heed,"  and  the  author  pre- 
sently died.  Years  after,  one  llichard 
Baxter  became,  through  the  reading 
of  that  book,  a  decided  Christian, 
llichard  Baxter  presently  wrote  a 
book  called,  "The  Saint's  Everlasting 
Rest,"  and  then  he  too  fell  asleep. 
Time  passed  on,  and  a  young  man 
named  Philip  Doddridge  met  with 
Baxter's  book,  read  it,  and  became  a 
disciple  of  Jesus ;  and  Doddridge 
wrote  a  book,  "The  Rise  and  Pro- 
gress of  Religion  in  the  Soul,"  and 
went  presently  to  his  reward.  After 
another  lapse  of  years  one  William 
Wilberforce  met  with  that  book  of 
Doddridge,  and  became  a  religious 
man,  and  presently  himself  wrote  a 
book,  "  The  Practical  Yiew  of  Chris- 
tianity;"  and  Wilberforce,  after  fil- 
ling the  world  with  the  fame  of  his 
philanthropy,  passed  away.  But  his 
book  remained,  and  one  Legh  Rich- 
mond read  it,  and  henceforth  lived 
to  be  the  practical  expounder  of  the 
Christianity  of  which  it  treated ; 
and  Legh  Pdchmond  wrote  ' '  The 
Dairyman's  Daughter,"  a  book  that 
has  been  translated  into  almost  every 
language,  and  been  made  a  blessing 
to  almost  innumerable  souls. 


PEESEVEEANOE    EEWAEDED. 

975.  Difficulties. — Every  cause 
which  is  worth  supporting  will  have 
to  encoimter  difficulties  ;  and  these 
are  generally  proportionate  to  the 
value  of  the  object  to  be  accomplished. 
The  career  of  benevolence  is  not  a 
path  of  flowers,  leading  down  a 
gentle  declivity,  where  the  philan- 
thropist treads  softly  and  swiftly 
without  a  difficulty  to  check  his  pro- 
gress, or  a  discouragement  to  chill 
his  ardour.  Mercy  has  far  more  to 
obstruct  her  course  than  even  justice, 
since  the  latter  is  attended  by  the 
strong  arm  of  power,  to  resent  in-  ' 
juries  oflered  to  her  dignity,  and  re- 
move |[|)stacles  opposing  her  progress : 
whereas  mercy,  accompanied  only  by 
that  wisdom  which  ^is  peaceable, 
must  attempt  to  do  by  gentleness 
what  she  cannot  effect  by  force ;  must 
toil  through  difficulties  which  she 
cannot  remove ;  under  the  most  ag-  J 
gravated  injuries,  must  console  her-  'I 
self  with  the  thought  tl^at  she  did 

not  deserve  them ;  amidst  present 
discouragement,  must  cheer  herself 
with  the  hope  of  futift-e  success,  and 
after  waiting  long  and  patiently  for 
the  fruit  of  her  labours,  will  some-  ^ 
times  find  her  only  reward  in  the 
purity  of  her  intentions  and  the  con- 
sciousness of  paving  done  all  she 
could. — J.  A.  James. 

976.  Obstacles  ofteif  Magnified. 
— ]S"o  important  end,  good  or  bad, 
is  ever  reached  without  meeting 
obstacles.  The  tendency  of  the 
timid  and  the  weak-hearted  is  to 
overrate  those  obstacles,  to  magnify 
them  into  devouring  lions.  But  like 
the  lions  before  Bunyan's  Pilgrira^  a 
bold  and  resolute  advance,  in  a  iml- 
jority  of  cases,  shows  that  they  are 
chained,  or  else  are  old  and  toothless, 
or  that  they  are  merely  some  inno- 
cent and  harmless  creatures  dressed 
up  in  the  lion's  skin. — Dr.  Hart. 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL    WORLD. 


391 


977.  Stubbomness  Overcome. — 
Many  interesting  anecdotes  are  re- 
latedxif  the  success  Mr.  Raikes  met 
with  in  his  exertions  on  behalf  of 
the  young.  One  sulky,  stubborn 
girl,  who  had  resisted  both  reproofs 
and  correction,  and  who  refused  to 
ask  forgiveness  of  her  mother,  was 
melted,  by  his  saying  to  her,  "Well, 
if  you  have  no  regard  for  yourself,  I 
have  much  for  you ;  you  wilj.  be 
ruined  and  lost  if  you  do  not  become 
a  good  girl ;  and  if  you  will  not 
humble  yourself,  I  must  humble 
myself,  and  make  a  beginning  for 
you."  He,  with  much  solemnity, 
entreated  the  mother  to  forgive  her. 
This  overcame  the  girl's  pride,  she 
burst  into  tears,  and  on  her  knees 
begged  forgiveness,  and  never  gave 
any  trouble  afterwards. —  Watsoti. 

978.  Anecdote  of  Eaikes. — The 
Rev.  Dr.  Kennedy,  of  K'ew  York,  in 
addressing  'ft.e  State  Convention  of 
Sabbath- school  teachers,  held  at 
Newhaven,  Connecticut,  in  June, 
1858,  said  :  "  Many  years  agD,  in  one 
of  the  older  cities  of  England,  two 
men  might  have  been  seen  walking 
together,  the  one  older  than  the  other 
and  leaning  on  the  arm  of  his 
younger  friend.  When  they  reached 
a  certain  place,  the  elder  of  the  two 
said,  '  Pause  here  ; '  and  so  saying, 
he  uncovered  his  brow,  closed  his 
eyes,  and  stood  for  a  moment  in 
silent  prayer.  That  place  was  the 
site  of  the  first  Sabbath-school,  and 
the  elder  man  was  Robert  R-aikes,  its 
founder.  He  paused  on  the  spot, 
and  that  silent  prayer  ascended  to 
the  ear  of  the  crucified  Christ,  and 
the  tears  rolled  down  his  cheeks  as 
h^said  to  his  friend,  'This  is  the 
l^t  on  which  I  stood  when  I  saw 
the  destitution  of  the  children,  and 
the  desecration  of  the  Sabbath  by  the 
inhabitants  of  t^e  town;  and  I 
asked,  '  Can  nothing  be  done  ? '  and 
a  voice  answered,  '  Try,' — and  I  did 


try, — and     see    what 
wrougrht.' " 


God     hath 


979.  David  Stow.— "In  my  Sab- 
bath-school, consisting  of  about 
thirty  boys  and  girls,  when  the 
leading  principles  of  the  training 
system  were  first  practically  worked 
out,  i  may  state  that  during  the 
first  ten  years,  out  of  the  sixteen  or 
eighteen  years,  the  most  of  them  were 
consecutively  in  attendance,  I  saw- 
no  fruit,  save  that  they  all  got  better 
and  more  decently  dressed,  and  their 
hair  more  smoothly  combed  and 
brushed,  and  that  several  of  them 
attended  church  (their  parents  also 
being  now  induced  to  attend)  who 
had  never  done  so  before.  Soon 
after  that  time,  however,  when 
family  and  personal  afliiction  unfitted 
me  for  giving  them  much  instruction 
or  training — silently,  and  apparentl}^ 
within  a  very  limited  period,  nearly 
all  the  girls,  or  rather  young  women, 
decidedly  turned  to  the  liOrd,  imme- 
diately held  prayer-meetings  in  the 
school-room  —  viz.,  a  good-sized 
kitchen,  by  themselves.  Six  months 
afterwards,  the  same  operation  of  the 
Divine  Spirit  was  exhibited  in  most 
of  the  boys,  or  rather  young  men, 
and  then  both  sexes  held  a  united 
prayer-meeting  once  a-week,  and 
also  one  separately,  each  by  them- 
selves. Like  a  hive  of  bees,  they 
soon  afterwards  seized  upon  a 
neighbouring  very  destitute  district 
in  the  suburbs,  in  which  they  estab- 
lished, and  taught  most  efficiently, 
fifteen  Sabbath- schools,  on  a  strict 
local  principle, .  having  about  three 
hundred  and  fifty  children  in  at- 
tendance ;  a  district  in  which  there 
was  neither  church  nor  school.  Xow, 
being  occupied  on  Sunday  afternoons, 
they  then  met  on  Monday  evenings 
in  my  house,  two  miles  distant  from 
my  district,  for  conversation  and 
prayer,  which  the  young  men  wholly 
conducted.     I  then  felt  myself  in  a 


392 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WORLD. 


position,  not  of  a  teacher,  but  a 
hearer,  through  them,  in  the  school 
of  Christ.  Their  calmness,  fervour, 
and  enlightened  faith  truly  surprised 
and  delighted  me.  Soon  after  this, 
(twenty-five  years  ago)  I  received  a 
petition  from  fifteen  of  them,  re- 
questing me  to  use  my  influence  to 
get  up  a  church  and  day-school 
(afterwards  termed  St.  Luke's),  so 
that  they  might  have  a  regular 
organised  Christian  machinery.  In 
one  word,  out  of  thirty  scholars, 
twenty-three  became  Sabbath-school 
teachers  ;  five,  elders  of  the  church  ; 
four  day-school  teachers ;  one,  head 
of  a  Normal  Training  Seminary  in 
the  Colonies;  two  are  ministers  of 
the  Gospel,  one  in  England,  the  other 
in  Scotland  ;  and  five  are  now,  I  be- 
lieve, in  glory.  Of  course,  some#of 
these  pupils  held  different  offices  in 
succession,  the  correct  'statistical' 
number  being  twenty-three  in  all." 
— Life  of  David  Stoic, 

980.  Pruit  at  last.  —  <'T  in- 
structed two  classes,  consisting  of  120 
children,  from  ten  to  fourteen  years 
of  age.  Deeply  grieved  that,  though 
alive  to  worldly  objects,  to  heavenly 
ones  they  were  dead,  I  sought  to  im- 
press on  their  minds  that  all  men 
are  sinners,  that  they  must  repent, 
and  be  born  from  above.  Often  with 
tears  I  supplicated  the  Lord  for 
them.  One  winter  evening  I  heard 
a  knock  at  the  door;  and,  behold, 
eight  boys  with  their  Bibles !  "  The 
authcr  of  this  interesting  narrative 
enlarges  on  the  conversation  these 
boys  had  held  with  one  another  till 
the  whole  eight  were  deeply  con- 
vinced of  sin ;  he  records  his  meeting 
with  them,  and  then  adds:  "The 
number  of  boys  who  came  to  me 
soon  amounted  to  fifty ;  they  met  me 
for  an  hour  every  Sunday  afternoon. 
As  many  of  the  boys  conversed  seri- 
ously with  their  sisters,  there  arose 
among  the   girls   a  hungering   and 


thirsting  after  righteousness ;  and 
there  were  soon  as  many  who  believed 
of  one  sex  as  the  other." — Davids. 

981.  An  Earnest  Teacher.  —  A 
lovely  young  female  teacher  was 
taken  from  us  at  twenty-two  years 
of  age.  She  joined  us  as  a  teacher 
at  sixteen,  and  laboured  with  us 
but  few  years  before  her  crown 
was  given  to  her.  Yet  her  whole 
class  of  girls,  crowded  always, 
seemed  to  listen  to  her  with  hearts 
perfectly  absorbed,  and  felt  the  priv- 
ilege of  being  taught  by  her  one  of 
the  greatest  joys  of  their  life.  Her 
fidelity  in  speaking  for  Jesus  seemed 
never  to  fail.  I  had  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  at  least  twenty-five  youths 
around  her,  and  I  know  not  how 
many  more,  for  my  knowledge  was. 
partial,  were  saved  by  the  Lord's 
blessing  upon  her  short,  but  lovely 
ministry. — Tyng. 

982.  Timidity  Overcome.  —  A 
young  lady  who,  from  timidity,  had 
refused  to  become  a  teacher,  was  at 
length  persuaded  to  take  a  class : 
there  were  nine  scholars  in  it.  She 
deeply  felt  the  responsibility  of  the 
ofiice,  and  earnestly  prayed  for  as- 
sistance. Her  mind  was  impressed 
with  the  idea  that  these  girls  might 
fill  important  stations  in  society, 
and,  if  converted,  their  influence 
might  do  extensive  good.  She  de- 
sired their  salvation  with  intense- 
ness ;  and,  addressing  them  from  the 
fulness  of  her  heart,  warned  them  of 
their  danger,  and  exhorted  them,  by 
the  uncertainty  of  time,  and  the 
dread  solemnities  of  eternity,  to 
make  their  escape  from  the  wrath 
to  come :  they  became  deeply  im- 
pressed, and,  within  two  week** 
every  one  of  them  was  asking  the 
way  to  Zion,  intending  to  walk 
therein.  They  are  all  still  perse- 
vering in  the  ways  of  holiness. — 
Davids. 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WORLD. 


393 


983.  Scripture  Illustrations.  — 
The  illustrations  afforded  in  Scrip- 
ture show  that  there  is  a  reward  for 
services  done  to  the  Lord  and  to  the 
needy  in  His  name.  The  alabaster- 
box  has  its  constant  fragrance,  the 
widow's  mite  has  its  perpetual  value, 
and  the  cup  of  cold  water  given  to  a 
disciple  in  the  name  of  a  disciple, 
shall  in  no  wise  lose  its  reward. 
He  that  converteth  a  sinner  from 
the  error  of  his  way,  not  only  saves 
a  soul  from  death,  and  hides  a  mul- 
titude of  sins,  but  receives  his  re- 
ward, and  is  glorified  among  those 
who  have  "turned  many  to  righte- 
ousness," and  on  that  account  "  shine 
as  the  stars  for  ever  and  ever." — 
Di\  Steel. 

984.  Praying  down  Success. — 
A  young  teacher,  only  sixteen  years 
of  age,  came  with  a  burdened  heart 
to  her  superintendent;  her  trouble 
was,  that  none  of  her  children  loved 
Jesus  ;  and  her  heart  seemed  almost 
broken.  The  superintendent  said  he 
was  glad  she  felt  the  importance  of 
her  position  as  a  teacher ;  that  she 
could  not  feel  too  deeply;  pointed 
her  to  the  promises  in  reference  to 
prayer,  and  bade  her^:?roi-e  the  Lord. 
She  did  pray ;  but,  uniting  prayer 
with  effort,  she  called  on  all  her 
class,  informing  them  that  she  had 
something  of  great  importance  to 
tell  them  next  Sabbath,  and  re- 
questing their  punctual  attendance. 
The  Sabbath  came  ;  her  class  were 
all  present,  and  in  time.  She  said,- 
with  felt  solemnity,  "  I  am  not 
going  to  hear  your  lessons ;  I  have 
something  to  tell  you :"  and  then 
unfolded  to  them  the  plan  of  salva- 
tion. These  were  little  children, 
reading  in  the  Second  Class  Book; 
but  so  powerfully  did  their  teacher's 
earnestness  affect  them,  that  two 
gave  their  hearts  to  God,  and  the 
remainder    were    more    thoughtful 


and  solemn  than  they  had  ever  been 
before . — Da  vids . 

985.  Mr.  Clark.  —  How  many 
proofs  of  this  have  been  already 
brought  to  light,  fitted  to  encourage 
the  faithful  teacher,  and  to  animate 
him  by  the  hope  of  an  ample  recom- 
pense in  the  souls  whom  he  may 
iind  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
saved  by  his  instrumentality !  One 
class  in  Edinburgh,  taught  by  a  de- 
voted Mr.  Clark,  who  afterwards 
became  a  schoolmaster  at  Sierra 
Leone,  consisted  of  sixteen  boys,  of 
whom  fourteen  were  brought  to  the 
Saviour  and  became  preachers  of  the 
Gospel.  What  a  large  increase  was 
this  !  What  a  full  reward  to  the 
labouring  teacher!  In  a  school  in 
New  England,  where  there  were  two 
hundred  and  thirty-one  scholars,  no 
fewer  than  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
one  were  known  to  have  become 
hopefully  pious.  From  them  how 
many  blessed  influences  must  have 
gone  forth,  and  parents,  friends,  and 
scholars,  been  converted  to  the  Lord. 
—Br.  Steel. 

986.  Wonderful  Success.  —  In 
another  class  of  twenty-three,  the 
labour  of  six  months  was^so  blessed, 
that  twelve  joined  themselves  to  the 
Church  of  Christ,  and  the  remaining 
number  were  apparently  following 
the  right  way,  when  their  teacher, 
in  the  providence  of  God,  was  un- 
expectedly called  to  another  sphere  ; 
and  the  full  result  of  his  labours  in 
that  interesting  class  will  never  be 
known  on  this  side  the  grave. — 
Davids. 

987.  Mr.  Parr  of  Philadelphia. 
— He  was  a  native  of  London,  and  a 
chemist  of  practical  wisdom  and 
success  in  business.  He  was  one  of 
our  Bible- class  teachers  at  St.  Paul's 
— a  model  of  a  Sunday-school  teacher. 
Truly  spiritual,  thoroughly  evangel- 
ical, deeply  earnest,  never  wearied, 


394 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


always  attractive,  lie  made  his  class 
to  be  considered  by  young  men  an 
invaluable  privilege.  God  blessed 
his  labours  with  increasing  mani- 
festations of  Divine  grace  and  power. 
Young  men  now  energetic  and  active 
in  their  maturity,  in  every  class  of 
the  work  of  the  Church  of  God, 
would  to-day  rise  up  and  call  him 
blessed.  I  have  no  doubt,  if  all  who 
found  the  Saviour  under  his  earnest, 
constant  fidelity,  were  called  to  stand 
together  as  witnesses  for  him,  more 
than  one  hundred  young  men  would 
appear  to  testify  for  him  before  the 
Lord.  And  yet  I  speak  of  only  a 
portion  of  his  labour  in  this  cause. — 
Dr.  Tyng. 

988.  live  Years'  Work.  — 
Teachers  sometimes  find  their  hearts 
failing  them  as  they  engage  Sabbath 
after  Sabbath  in  their  love-appointed 
labour,  because  they  seem  to  accom- 
plish so  little,  or  because  they  do  not 
accomplish  all  they  desire.  *For  the 
encouragement  of  such,  I  will  give 
the  results  of  the  labours  of  one 
teacher  for  a  period  of  about  five 
years,  as  they  recently  fell  under 
my  notice.  During  the  period  above- 
mentioned  there  had  been  about 
eighty-eight  regular  members  in  the 
class,  besides  a  large  number  who 
occasionally  found  there  way  there. 
"^  Of  these  eighty-eight  members, 
sixty-six  have  made  a  public  pro- 
fessi'on  of  their  faith  in  Christ, 
twenty-nine  certainly  having  united 
with  the  Church  since  joining  the 
class.  More  than  thirty  are  now 
Sunday-school  teachers.  Thirty-one 
have  married  since  joining  the  class, 
and  six  have  died,  all  of  them  in 
the  triumphs  of  faith.  Those  who 
have  gone  from  the  class  are  scattered 
over  at  least  seven  different  States. 
Doubtless  the  teacher  of  this  class 
was  many  times  cast  down,  many 
times  asked  himself  of  what  avail 
was  all  this  tearful,  prayerful  sowing. 


since  the  joyful  reaping  time  was 
so  long  delayed.  Tn  some  dark  hour^ 
perhaps,  the  thought  would  come, 
that  all  the  seed  of  his  sowing  fell 
on  stony  ground.  But  when  most 
he  feared,  when  darkest  seemed  the 
hour,  and  faintest  his  hopes,  God 
showed  him  that  his  labour  was  not 
in  vain.  Some  member  of  his  class, 
who,  perhaps,  had  seemed  to  give 
little  heed  to  the  instructions  he  re- 
ceived, whose  heart  had  seemed  the 
hardest,  was  led  to  give  himself  to 
Jesus,  and  boldly  to  declare  himself 
on  the  Lord's  side  ;  and  so  through 
the  years,  while  their  had  been  oc- 
casional seasons  of  darkness,  there 
had  been  many  times  of  great  light. 
Ptemembering  all  that  God  had  done 
for  him,  and  through  him,  this  faith- 
ful labourer  could  only  exclaim, 
What  hath  God  wrought !  In  the 
Church  of  God  he  saw  mighty 
champions  of  the  truth,  in  those  for 
whose  salvation  ho  had  laboured  and 
prayed.  In  the  faithful  band  of 
Sunday-school  teachers,  whose  la- 
bours God  was  so  abundantly  bless- 
ing, he  rejoiced  to  recognise  those 
who  had  once  sat  under  his  instruc- 
tion. He  joyed,  too,  to  know  that 
in  their  distant  homes,  the  scattered 
ones  of  the  class,  who  had  given 
their  hearts  to  Jesus,  stiU  remem- 
bered reverently  the  time  and  place 
when  God  first  spoke  peace  to  their 
souls  :  and  we  can  well  imagine  his 
heart  would  be  touched  with  a  deeper 
tenderness,  as  he  remembered  those 
who  had  gone  to  join  the  angel 
throng,  whose  robes  had  been  washed 
white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  and 
who  are  now  before  the  throne,  cast- 
ing their  crowns  at  the  Saviour's 
feet. — American  Journal. 

989.  After  many  Days.— All 
faithful  teachers  see  their  dark  days, 
I  do  not  doubt ;  days  when  their 
work  seems  all  thrown  away  on 
careless    boys     and  girls,   who   are 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WOELD. 


395 


more  intent  on  play  or  in  looking  at 
eacli  other's  apparel,  than  on  the 
Word  of  God.  But  if  yon  are  faith- 
ful, if  your  heart  is  really  in  your 
"work,  and  you  do  desire  to  do  good, 
you  will  surely  reap  your  reward. 
You  may  rest  from  your  labours  long 
before  the  harvest,  but  your  works 
will  follow  you.  A  Sunday-school 
missionary,  on  his  annual  visit  to 
one  of  our  large  western  to"\\Tis,  went 
into  a  Sunday-  school  on  the  Sabbath. 
While  there,  a  distinguished  lawyer 
of  the  place,  who  had  recently  been 
converted,  arose  and  made  a  most 
impressive  address.  It  was  twenty- 
five  years  since  he  had  been  in  a 
Sunday-school,  but  now  that  his 
heart  was  humbled  at  his  Saviour's 
feet,  that  was  the  place  he  first 
sought  out.  The  proud  man,  who 
had  so  lately  been  an  unbeliever  in 
the  truth  of  the  Bible,  now  rejoiced 
to  sit  down  with  the  little  children 
and  learn  of  Him  who  is  meek  and 
lowly  in  heart.  He  mentioned  that 
his  mind  was  first  seriously  im- 
pressed in  the  Sunday- school  so 
many  years  before,  and  that  his 
sceptical  views  began  when  he  for- 
sook the  Sunday-school,  but  that 
truths  impressed  on  his  heart  b}^  his 
early  teacher  had  followed  him  all 
through  those  years  of  wandering, 
until  they  had,  through  the  blessing 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  brought  him  in 
this  far  off  land  to  cast  himself  on 
the  mercy  and  love  of  Jesus.  Doubt- 
less that  teacher  never  knew  in  this 
world  the  result  of  that  seed -sowing. 
But  God  and  the  angels  knew  it,  and 
one  day  teacher  and  scholars  shall 
doubtless  rejoice  together  around  the 
throne  of  God.  Oli,  teacher,  will 
you  not  labour  from  this  time  forth 
as  you  never  have  before  for  the 
conversion  of  your  scholars?  If 
you  are  in  earnest,  they  will  be  im- 
pressed. The  sympathies  of  child- 
hood are  quick  and  powerful.  If 
they  witness  the   starting  tear    in 


your  eye,  as  you  tell  them  of  their 
great  danger,  they  will  be  made  to 
feel  it  themselves.  If  you  improve 
all  opportunities  to  say  privately  an 
aftectionate  word  to  them  about  their 
own  salvation,  the  result  will  be 
such  as  to  fill  your  soul  with  wonder 
and  gladness.  Direct  personal  ap- 
peals, given  from  a  heart  glowing 
with  love,  have  more  power  than 
years  of  mere  general  instruction. — 
J.  E.  L. 

990.  Two  Ladies  of  Philadelphia. 
— An  example  of  this  kind  of  fidelity 
fell  under  my  own  observation  early 
in  life.  About  forty  years  ago,  two 
ladies,  Philadelphians,  went  to  Wil- 
kesbarre,  Pennsylvania,  to  spend 
the  summer.  Having  some  leisure 
on  their  hands,  and  having  their 
hearts  full  of  their  Master's  work, 
they,  with  another  lady,  a  resident 
of  Wilkesbarre,  still  living,  estab- 
lished a  Sabbath- school  in  an  uncul- 
tivated neighbourhood,  not  far  from 
the  village.  Miss  Gardiner,  one  of 
the  city  teachers  referred  to,  was  a 
lady  of  more  than  common  culture 
and  refinement,  and  one  in  whose 
heart  zeal  for  Christ's  cause  seemed 
an  ever-burning  flame.  The  class 
assigned  to  her  was  a  company  of 
country  boys,  not  very  inviting  in 
any  respect.  This  was  before  the 
days  of  ''Question  Books."  The 
lessons  consisted  mainly  in  commit- 
ing  to  memory  portions  of  the 
Scriptui-es.  The  portions  thus  re- 
cited were  explained, .  and  various 
devices  were  resorted  to,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  making  the  exercises  attrac- 
tive and  interesting.  But  one  feature 
of  the  ser\dee  was  never  wanting. 
jN'o  Sabbath  ever  passed  without  the 
question  coming  home  to  the  class, 
"  Boys7  are  you  Christians  ?  Do  you 
mean  to  become  Christians  ?  Are 
you  doing  anything  to  this  end? 
Can  you  ever  do  it  better  than  now?" 
I  speak  the  testimony  at  least  of  one 


396 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WORLD. 


of  those  boys.  Not  one  Sabbath  did 
lie  ever  go  home  from  that  school 
without  his  conscience  being  pricked 
on  the  duty  of  giving  instant,  per- 
sonal attention  to  the  great  business 
of  making  his  peace  with  God.  Not 
one  Sabbath  ever  passed  on  which 
that  faithful  teacher  failed  to  seek, 
by  most  direct  means,  his  conversion. 
Though  the  school  was  held  in  a 
barn,  and  its  appointments  were  all 
of  the  rudest  kind,  it  became  a 
heaven  on  earth  to  that  boy.  If  he 
was  ever  converted  at  all;  if  he 
has  ever  done  any  service  to  the 
Sabbath- school  cause,  or  to  any  de- 
partment of  his  Master' s^  work,  he  is 
most  happy,  even  at  this  late  da;^, 
thus  publicly,  thankfully  to  trace  it 
to  the  fidelity  of  that  Christian 
woman,  Mary  R.  Gardiner,  long 
since  gone  to  her  reward.  But  her 
memory  is  still  fragrant  in  at  least 
one  grateful  heart. — Dr.  Hart. 

991.  Prnit  after  Death.— '' A 
few  years  ago,  a  teacher  in  England 
on  his  death-bed  lamented  to  a 
Christian  friend,  that  though  he  had 
been  a  teacher  for  twenty-four  years, 
he  had  seen  no  fruit  from  his  in- 
structions. He  died.  His  friend 
being  in  another  part  of  England, 
shortly  afterwards,  was  asked  by  a 
gentleman  if  he  was  acquainted  with 

Mr.    ,    naming    'the     departed 

teacher.  On  being  told  of  his  death, 
he  said  feelingly,  "It  was  through 
his  instructions  "^that  I  was  brought 
to  the  knowledge  of  Christ. — Dr. 
Steel. 

992.  Sixty-two  Years  a  S.  S. 
Teacher.: — In  the  year  1804,  a  young 
man  entered  upon  the  office  of  su- 
perintendent of  Kent- street  Sunday- 
school,  situated  in  one  of  the  lowest, 
and  at  that  time  one  of  the  most 
dangerous  parts  of  the  Borough  of 
Southwark.  On  the  28th  of 
January,  1866,  a  grey-headed  man, 


in  his  eighty-fourth  year,  was  borne  ' 
by  the  teachers  of  the  same  school,  to 
the  coach  that  was  to  carry  him 
home,  stricken  with  sickness  from 
which  he  was  not  to  recover.  The 
youthful  superintendent  of  180^,  and 
the  dying  veteran  of  1866,  were  one 
and  the  same  individual.  Having 
put  his  hand  to  the  plough,  he  had 
never  looked  back,  but  through  a 
period  of  sixty-two  years,  with 
scarcely  the  intermission  of  a  single 
Sabbath,  and  with  the  addition  of 
several  nights  every  week  devoted  to 
the  moral  or  spiritual  welfare  of  his 
scholars,  he  had  laboured  on,  till  like 
a  warrior  he  had  fallen  on  the  battle 
field,  and  only  put  off*  his  armour 
when  the  irresistible  conqueror  had 
struck  that  fatal  blow,  before  which 
all  will  ultimately  have  to  yield. 
Sunday,  the  4th  of  February,  was 
the  only  Sabbath  he  was  absent  from 
the  school,  for,  on  the  following  Sa- 
turday, he  went  to  be  with  Jesus. 
On  the  17th  of  February,  he  was 
carried  to  the  grave  amid  the 
lamentations  of  former  scholars  and 
friends,  and  with  such  funereal 
honours  as  are  rarely  witnessed,  for 
the  long  line  of  procession  consisted 
not  of  complimentary  carriages,  but 
of  costermongers'  carts,  conveying 
real  mourners.  Rare,  yet  noble  ex- 
ample of  "patient  continuance  in 
well  doing  !  "  Who  does  not  envy, 
or  rather  who  does  not  desire  to 
emulate  such  a  character?  "Who 
does  not  feel  what  increased  effi- 
ciency and  power  would  accrue  to 
the  Sunday-school  cause  if  we  had 
many  more  such  veterans  ?  May  it 
not  be  a  profitable  employment  to 
look  at  some  of  the  causes  which  too 
often  lead  our  teachers  to  become 
"weary  in  well  doing,"  and  aban- 
don their  work  ? —  W.  Culverwell. 

993.  Earnestness  Rewarded. — 
"  I  knew  a  lady  once  in  Columbus," 
said  Rev.  J.  L.  Grover,  in  a  Sab- 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WORLD. 


397 


bath-school  meeting,  ''  whose  dis- 
tress for  her  class  became  extreme. 
She  could  not  rest  while  they  were 
unsaved.  To  some  she  dropped 
notes,  revealing  her  concern,  and 
asking  them  if  they  would  not  seek 
the  Saviour.  Others  she  invited  to 
come  Saturdays  and  see  her  at  her 
own  home,  and  there,  reading  the 
Bible  and  supplicating  a  Throne  of 
Grace,  several  were  converted.  In 
time  all  were  saved,  and  the  great 
mountain  was  taken  from  her 
heart. ' ' — House. 


INDIRECT  EESULTS. 

994.  Indirect     Advantages     of 
Sunday- Schools. — Some  years  since 
the  providence  of  God  brought  me  to 
the  sick  room  of  an  individual  whom 
I  had  known  in  my  childhood,  but 
■whom    I   had   not   seen   for  fifteen 
years.     He  was  formerly  a  respect- 
able   tradesman     in     the     midland 
counties,  but  marrying  a  rich  lady, 
left  his  native  place  to  spend  in  a  life 
of  gaiety  and  dissipation  all  his  own, 
and  as  much  of  his  wife's  property 
as   he   could   command.      Not  long 
after  his  prodigality  had  expended 
his  resources  his  wife  died,  leaving 
him  utterly  destitute,  and  compelled 
him  to  flee  to  London,  where  he  ob- 
tained a  situation  as  journeyman,  and 
where,  after   a   short  residence,  he 
married     a     poor    but    industrious 
woman,  and  became  the  father  of  a 
family.     Although  his  second  wife 
was  not  a  professing  Christian,  she 
had  been  accustomed,  prior  to  her 
marriage,  to  attend  the  faithful  mi- 
nistry of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Gipps,  Vicar 
of  Hereford,  and  had  felt  something 
of  the  blessedness  of  true  religion. 
As  her  children  became  old  enough, 
she  sent  them  to  the  Sabbath-school, 


from  which,  on  the  Lord's-day,  they 
used  to  bring  their  books,  to  prepare 
for  the  next  meeting  of  their  classes. 
One  of  these  books,  called  3Iilk  for 
JSabes,  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
poor  father  ;  he  read  it  again  and 
again ;  light  broke  in  upon  his 
mind ;  he  began  to  study  his  long- 
neglected  Bible,  attended  the  means 
of  grace  with  which  the  Sabbath- 
school  was  connected,  and  became 
manifestly  a  trophy  of  redeeming 
love.  I  visited  London,  and  was 
directed  to  the  humble  dwelling  of 
this  poor  but  happy  man,  just  before 
he  closed  his  chequered  career,  and 
received  from  his  own  lips  the  fore- 
going interesting  narrative  ;  which, 
whilst  it  magnifies  the  riches  of  re- 
deeming love,  speaks  loudly  for  even 
the  indirect  advantages  of  Sunday- 
schools. — L.  W. 

995.  The  Preacher  is  helped. — 
It  may  be  also  observed,  that  minds 
trained  in  the   knowledge    of    the 
Gospel    are    far    more    likely  than 
others  to  benefit  by  preaching.   They 
have  a  clearer  understanding  of  ser- 
mons.    Besides,  as  it  is  through  the 
mind  that  God  converts  the  heart, 
they  are  in  a  fairer  way  to  derive 
spiritual  impression  than  persons  who 
have    lived    in    brutish    ignorance. 
This  is  a  species  of  advantage  arising 
from     Sunday  -  school     instruction 
not    sufficiently  thought  of.       The 
teacher  is  unquestionably  a  powerful 
auxiliary  to  the  preacher,    and  the 
success  of  the  latter  in  many  cases 
must  in  justice   be   shared   by  the 
former.     You  may,  therefore,  check 
the  despondency  of  your  hearts  with 
this    consideration,   that  where    no 
present  visible  effect  is  produced  by 
your   instructions,  you   may,  by   a 
division  of  labour  in  the  business  of 
conversion,  be  preparing  for  this  great 
change    being    afterwards     effected 
under    the    instrumentality  of    the 
minister. — /.  A.  James. 


398 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WORLD. 


996.  ThougMfulness  excited. — 
"  One  day,"  says  a  lady,  speaking  of 
her  early  years,  "when  I  was  re- 
turning home,  I  saw  my  dear  mother 
sitting  on  a  bank  in  the  orchard, 
weeping  bitterly.  I  thought  she 
was  weeping  on  account  of  my 
father's  death.  I  went  to  her,  and 
asked  her  why  she  wept  so.  Her 
answer  was,  *I  may  well  weep  to 
see  my  children  taking  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  by  yiolence,  while  I  my- 
self shall  be  shut  out.'  As  well  as  I 
was  able  I  pointed  her  to  the  Lamb 
of  God  which  taketh  away  the  sin 
of  the  world  ;  from  that  time  the 
work  of  grace  in  her  soul  began." 

997.  A  Eandom  Shot.— Within 
the  last  twenty-four  hours,  while  I 
write,  one  of  my  teachers  has  re- 
ported to  me  a  visit  to  a  poor  Ger- 
man Jewish  family  in  our  neigh- 
bourhood. The  father,  who  is  a 
butcher,  refused  to  hear  or  receive 
any  tract  or  invitation  to  the  school 
or  church,  and  the  teacher  departed. 
A  little  boy,  his  son,  who  was  sitting 
by,  followed  the  teacher  to  the  next 
house,  and  begged  him  to  take  him 
to  the  Sunday-school.  The  father 
consented  to  the  boy's  wish,  and 
another  child  of  ignorance  will,  by 
God's  blessing,  be  reclaimed  and 
taught  His  Word. — Dr.  Tyng. 

998.  Influence  of  S.  S.  Hymns, 
— There  is  no  small  amount  of  good 
done,  too,  by  the  hymns  and  tunes 
which  are  taken  from  the  Sunday- 
school  to  the  homes  of  the  people. 
If  there  is  any  value  in  the  saying 
that  the  man  who  makes  the  songs 
of  a  nation  may  be  careless  as  to 
who  makes  the  laws,  then  there  is  a 
value  in  this  fact.  You  may  often 
hear,  as  you  pass  along  the  streets 
and  lanes,  in  many  homes  voices 
singing  the  songs  of  the  Sunday- 
school.  In  many  of  those  homes 
you  are  sure  the  songs  are  above  the 


ordinary  sentiment  prevailing  there, 
and  if  the  inmates  are  wooed  by  the 
voice  of  song  to  higher  thoughts  and 
feelings  only  occasionally,  no  one 
can  estimate  the  good  which  comes 
from  even  these  glimpses  of  purer, 
and  higher,  and  brighter  things. — 
M7\  Shaw. 

999.  What  a  Heathen  said. — 
A  proud  East  Indian  nabob,  going 
along  the  streets  one  day,  was  at- 
tracted by  the  sounds  proceeding 
from  a  mission-school,  and  he  drew 
near  to  listen.  The  boys  were  read- 
ing the  fifth  chapter  of  Matthew. 
The  eyes  of  the  prince  flashed  with 
unwonted  fire,  and  when  they  had 
finished  their  lesson,  he  exclaimed : 
' '  Well,  if  you  only  live  that  chapter 
as  well  as  you  read  it,  I  will  never 
say  another  word  against  Chris- 
tianitv." 


MINISTEES    FEOM    THE 
SUroAY-SOHOOL. 

1000.  Kev.  Isaac  Mann.  —  An 
excellent  minister,  in  the  vicinity  of 
London,  some  time  ago  related,  that 
when  he  was  a  Sunday-school  teacher, 
many  years  since,  at  Bridlington,  in 
Yorkshire,  there  was  one  boy  in  the 
school,  whose  name  was  Isaac,  who 
was  a  most  unruly  and  rebellious 
lad;  so  wicked,  that  the  teachers 
knew  not  what  to  do  with  him,  and 
thought  they  must  expel  him.  They 
resolved,  however,  to  bear  with  him, 
if  possible,  and  continued  frequently 
to  talk  to  him  apart  from  the  other 
children,  and  to  pray  much  with  and 
for  him.  At  length  it  pleased  God 
to  convert  him  by  His  grace  ;  he 
became  an  able  and  useful  minister, 
and,  after  having  laboured  for  many 
years,  died  in  London.     This  once 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


399 


rebellious    Sunday-scliolar   was   the 
late  Rev.  Isaac  Mann. 

1001.  Newcastle. — At  a  meeting 
of  teachers  connected  with  the  New- 
castle -  on  -  Tyne  Sunday  -  school 
Union,  in  1823,  an  old  teacher 
observed  that  he  had  known  the 
Orphan  House  Methodist  Sunday- 
school  for  twenty-one  jxars,  and 
that,  during  this  period,  no  less  a 
number  than  twenty-six  preachers 
had  issued  from  it,  either  from  the 
scholars  or  the  teachers.  Can  there 
be  a  stronger  proof  of  the  utility  of 
Sunday-schools? — Clieever. 

1002.  Bath.— The  Bath  Sunday- 
school  Union  Eeport,  of  1824,  gives 
the  pleasing  information,  that  seve- 
ral missionaries,  and  upwards  of 
twenty  other  persons,  had  been 
called  out  of  its  schools  to  preach 
* '  the  glorious  Gospel  of  the  blessed 
God." 

1003.  Eev.  Dr.  Philip.— At  the 
annual  meeting  of  the  Sunday-school 
Union,  in  May,  1829,  the  Eev.  Dr. 
Philip,  missionary  from  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  stated  that  he  com- 
menced his  labours  in  the  Church  of 
Christ  as  a  Sunday-school  teacher. 
The  first  prayer  that  he  offered  up 
in  the  presence  of  others,  was  in  a 
Sunday-school.  The  first  attempt 
he  ever  made  to  speak  from  the 
Holy  Scriptures  was  in  a  Simday- 
school.  And  he  was  fully  persuaded 
that,  had  it  not  been  for  his  humble 
exercises  in  the  capacity  of  a  Sunday- 
school  teacher,  and  the  advantages 
he  there  acquired,  he  should  never 
have  had  the  confidence  to  become 
a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  or  a  mis- 
sionary of  Jesus  Christ.  He  in- 
formed the  meeting,  further,  that 
when  he  commenced  his  ministerial 
labours  in  Aberdeen,  he  felt  the 
importance  of  promoting  Sunday- 
school  instruction ;  and  the  benefits 
which  had  resulted  from  the  schools 


established  in  that  town  were,  at  the 
present  moment,  incalculable.  Dur- 
ing the  period  that  he  laboured  there, 
twelve  or  foui'teen  young  men  went 
out  into  the  field  of  ministerial 
labour,  many  of  whom  became  mis- 
sionaries. One  of  them  was  the 
lamented  Dr.  Milne,  and  the  other 
was  the  amiable  Keith.  Several 
other  missionaries  owed  their  first 
religious  impressions  to  the  tuition 
they  received  in  Sunday-schools. 

1004.  Edinburgh.  —  Mr.  Clark, 
afterwards  schoolmaster  at  Sierra 
Leone,  taught  a  Sunday-school  at 
Edinburgh.  His  method  of  giving 
instruction  was,  after  the  pupils  had 
read  or  repeated  a  portion  of  Scrip- 
ture, to  put  such  explanatory  and 
practical  questions  to  them  as  natu- 
rally arose  out  of  the  passage,  and  to 
conclude  with  a  short  address  and 
prayer.  Of  one  class,  consisting  of 
sixteen  boys,  fourteen  of  them  at 
adult  age,  were  brought  to  the  sav- 
ing knowledge  of  God,  and  acknow- 
ledged the  early  instruction  he  had 
given  them  as  the  means  of  their 
conversion.  The  whole  of  these  were 
afterwards  engaged  in  preaching  the 
Gospel,  some  of  them  in  Great  Bri- 
tain, and  others  in  foreign  lands. 

1005.  Eev.  E.  Knill.— The  Eev. 
Eichard  Knill  wrote  from  St.  Peters- 
burg, in  1819,  as  follows: — "As  an 
individual,  I  feel  peculiarly  indebted 
to  such  institutions,  and  to  the  glory 
of  God  I  record  it,  that  all  the  bless- 
ings which  have  been  given  to  others, 
through  my  instrumentality,  may  be 
traced  up  to  a  Sunday-school.  It 
was  my  privilege  to  be  a  teacher  in 
a  Sunday-school  at  Bideford:  hearing 
a  sermon  preached  in  behalf  of  the 
institution  led  me  first  to  think  of 
being  a  missionary.  Most  of  my  fel- 
low-students at  Axminster  had  been 
Sunday-school  teachers ;  and  out  of 
twenty  missionaries  who  were  my 


400 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


colleagues  at  Gosport,  three-fourtlis 
of  tliem  liad  been  engaged  in  tke 
same  way. 

1006.  Eev.  W.  Hands.— At  tlie 
same  meeting,  tlie  Rev.  W.  Hands, 
a  missionary  in  the  East  Indies,  ob- 
served that,  like  his  friend  who  had 
abeady  addressed  them,  he  might 
say,  that  he  owed  everything  to 
Sunday- schools  ;  for  it  was  there  that 
the  heavenly  spark  had  first  caught 
his  soul ;  it  was  there  that  he  had 
first  lifted  up  his  voice  for  the  pur- 
pose of  imparting  Christian  instruc- 
tion to  others.  If  it  had  not  been 
for  that  opportunity,  he  should  pro- 
bably never  have  offered  himself  to 
the  Missionary  Society.  Therefore, 
again  he  said,  that  he  had  every 
reason  to  bless  God  that  he  had  be- 
gun by  being  a  Sunday-  school  teacher, 
especially  as  he  believed  that  it  was 
principally  through  the  labours  of 
Sunday-schools  that  the  Gospel  of 
the  Redeemer  was  extended  through- 
out the  world. 

1007.  Eev.  G.  Mimday.— And, 
on  the  same  occasion,  the  Rev.  George 
Munday,  missionary  at  Chinsurah, 
in  the  East  Indies,  stated,  that  he 
might  truly  say,  that  if  he  had  never 
been  a  Sunday-school  teacher,  he 
should  never  have  Ijeen  a  missionary. 

1008.  York  Ohnroh  Congress. — 
At  the  Church  Congress,  which  as- 
sembled at  York  recently,  Rev.  E. 
Jackson,  who  for  thirty  years  had 
charge  of  one  Sunday-school,  in  a 
part  of  Leeds  densely  populated  with 
poor  people,  stated  that  it  had  pro- 
duced six  ordained  missionaries,  now 
abroad,  two  active  clergymen  at 
work  at  home,  four  more  training 
for  the  ministry,  and  thirty  or  forty 
"certificated"  day-school  teachers. 
During  the  last  thirty  years  it  had 
contributed  an  annual  average  of 
£30  to  missions,  the  whole  of  which 


was   the  voluntary  offering   of  the 
poor  children  and  teachers. 

1009.  Dr.  Archer's  Jubilee  Ser- 
mon. —  The  Jubilee  Sermon  was 
preached  by  the  Rev.  Thomas  Archer, 
D.D.,  at  Surrey  Chapel,  on  Tuesday 
evening,  July  12th.  The  text  se- 
lected, as  Dr.  Archer  remarked,  was 
the  same  as  that  preached  upon  more 
than  forty  years  before  to  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Union,  '*  by  a  venerable 
servant  of  Almighty  God  still  in  the 
Christian  Church  below,  I  mean 
Jabez  Bunting,  which  has  formed 
the  subject-matter  of  thousands  of 
sermons  already,  and  will  form  the 
great  motto  text  for  thousands  more 
when  we  have  passed  into  eternity. 
Xehemiah  vi.  3 :  'I  am  doing  a 
great  work,  so  that  I  cannot  come 
down:  why  should  the  work  cease, 
whilst  I  leave  it,  and  come  down  to 
you  ? ' "  Scarcely  could  the  solemnity 
of  the  place  and  of  the  occasion  re- 
strain the  excited  feelings  of  the 
audience,  while  the  preacher  expa- 
tiated on  the  Geandetje,  of  the 
Sunday  -  School  Woee-,  —  in  the 
means  which  it  employs,  the* motive 
with  which  it  is  prosecuted,  and  the 
splendour  of  its  results,  and  briefly 
but  vividly  sketched  the  characters 
of  Joseph  John  Freeman,  John  Wil- 
liams, and  William  Knibb,  as  the 
first-fruits  of  Sunday-school  labour, 
and  added,  "  I  have  spoken  of  these 
three ;  I  might  invoke  the  names  of 
many  who  shine  in  a  glorious  galaxy 
above  ;  I  might  appeal  to  thousands 
of  missionaries  now  at  work  among 
the  heathen,  who  can  look  back  and 
trace  distinctly  their  first  impulses 
of  spiritual  life  and  devotion  to 
Christ  to  their  connection  with  the 
Sunday-school,  and  I  say,  looking  at 
the  sanctified  in  glory  above,  and  to 
those  struggling  on  earth  beneath,  if 
the  Sunday-school  has  done  nothing 
more  than  this,  it  has  done  an 
unspeakably  *  great  work.'     A  great 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


401 


work  lias  been  done,  knowingly  and 
visibly  done  ;  we  can  see  it  in  Lon- 
don, at  this  Jubilee  of  1853,  but 
wbat  shall  be  the  work  seen,  dis- 
tinctly, fully,  and  for  ever,  not  in 
tbe  jubilee  of  the  Sunday  School 
Union,  but  in  the  Jubilee  of  the 
Universe — the  Jubilee  of  Eternity!" 

1010.  General  Effect  on  Ministry. 
— The  benefits  of  this  work  we  are 
already  reaping  in  the  whole  display 
of  a  Saviour's  triumphs  in  the  world. 
The  present  generation  of  youthful 
pastors  and  missionaries,  and  of  male 
and  female  teachers  and  labourers, 
are  chieily  the  children  of  Sunday- 
school  instruction. — Tyng. 

1011.  Many  Missionaries. — iS'or 
can  we  forget  that  it  was  the  Sun- 
day-school which  stirred  up  this  con- 
cern for  the  religious  condition  of 
the  people — that  many  of  those  con- 
gregations and  places  of  religious 
worship  have  originated  with  the 
Sunday-school — that  vast  numbers 
of  the  ministers  who  there  labour, 
as  well  as  of  the  most  successful 
missionaries  who  have  gone  forth 
amongst  the  heathen,  have  received 
their  religious  impressions  and  ac- 
quired their  aptitude  for  public  in- 
struction in  these  institutions — and, 
finally,  that  an  increasing  conviction 
rests  in  the  minds  of  thoughtful 
Christian  men,  that  whatsoever  in- 
fluence the  instruction  of. the  day- 
school  may  have  on  the  intellectual 
and  moral  condition  of  the  people,  it  is 
to  our  Sunday-schools  we  must  look 
for  that  sound  Scriptural  instruc- 
tion which,  while  it  strengthens 
the  mind,  enlarges  the  intellectual, 
and  purifies  the  moral  faculties, 
will,  at  the  same  time,  renew  and 
sanctify  the  soul,  and  prepare  it 
for  a  land  of  purity  and  of  never- 
ending  happiness,  where  the  great 
work  of  redemption  by  Jesus  Christ 
shall  be  completed,  and  God  shall  be 
''  All  in  all."— TTa^sow. 


1012.  Professor  of  Languages. — 
In  one  of  our  large  public  institu- 
tions is  an  accomplished  professor  of 
languages  who  came  a  poor  boy  to 
my  school.  His  parents  had  no 
means  of  advancing  him.  He  had 
displayed  no  particular  taste  for  at- 
tainment. His  associations  had  been 
far  down  below  the  prospect  of  any 
possible  elevation.  The  Sunday- 
school  brought  out  his  hidden  fire, 
and  stirred  up  the  gift  that  was  in 
him  ;  excited  the  desire  for  an  edu- 
cation ;  led  him  to  give  himself  and 
his  education  to  Grod.  He  struggled 
through  his  youth  with  the  noble 
purpose  before  him.  He  found  friends 
in  his  Sunday-school  connection  to 
sustain  him.  He  graduated  with  the 
highest  collegiate  honours.  He  was 
able  to  educate  and  exalt  his  whole 
family.  Few  who  now  know  and 
admire  him  have  the  least  idea  where 
was  found  the  spark  of  that  brilliant 
exhibition.  Yet  it  was  the  Sunday- 
school  which  took  him  out  of  the 
dust,  and  inspired  him  with  all  his 
early  thoughts  and  plans.  And  he 
has  been  a  faithful  teacher  in  his 
work  through  all  his  manhood  since. 
—  Tyng. 

1013.  Eobert  May. —Robert  May 
was  the  son  of  a  common  mariner,  in 
indigent  circumstances.  He  was  sent 
to  the  Sunday-scEool  at  Woodbridge, 
where  he  obtained  his  education,  and 
greatly  improved  his  privileges. 
One  Lord's- day  morning,  as  the 
minister  was  going  to  the  meeting- 
house, Eobert  put  into  his  hand  a 
humble  petition,  requesting  that  he 
might  be  permitted  to  be  a  teacher  in 
the  Sunday-school — an  office  in  which 
he  afterwards  appeared  to  be  both 
happy  and  useful.  On  the  11th  of 
March,  1806,  when  he  was  seventeen 
years  of  age,  he  was  admitted  a 
member  of  the  Independent  Chapel 
at  Woodbridge.  Robert  now  felt  an 
earnest  desire   to   go   abroad  as    a 


402 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL    WORLD. 


missionary.  He  often  told  his  min- 
ister thct  he  thought  there  were 
plenty  of  teachers  at  home,  and  that 
he  should  like  to  go  abroad,  to  teach 
poor  black  children  to  read  the  Bible, 
and  to  learn  hymns  and  catechisms. 
After  being  eminently  useful  in  im- 
proving and  extending  the  Sabbath- 
school  system  in  the  United  States, 
his  first  destination  was  Chinsurah,  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Calcutta.  Here 
he  spent  his  time  chiefly  in  instruct- 
ing the  children  of  the  poor  benighted 
heathen  in  the  great  principles  of 
Christinnity,  and  in  other  parts  of 
useful  knowledge.  In  connection 
with  his  other  exertions,  he  published 
a  small  volume  of  sermons,  which  he 
had  preached  to  children,  and  which 
have  been  since  reprinted  in  England. 
He  had  3,000  children  under  his  care, 
and  was  about  to  add  2,500  more  to 
that  number,  when  he  was  seized  by 
a  violent  fever,  which,  in  a  few  days, 
terminated  his  valuable  life,  and 
brought  him  to  the  house  appointed 
for  all  livinar. —  Cheever, 


1014. — Eev.  0,  Jakes,  at  present 
one  of  the  most  indefatigable  mis- 
sionaries, and  an  eloquent  preacher 
in  the  native  language  in  Madagas- 
car, was  not  many  years  ago  a 
scholar  in  a  Sunday-school  in  Staf- 
fordshire. Having  become  the  tea- 
cher of  a  junior  class,  he  commenced 
the  study  of  Latin.  Presently  he 
became  a  member  of  the  Church,  and 
still  continued  his  studies,  adding 
Greek  to  Latin.  His  thoughts  being 
turned  towards  the  Christian  minis- 
try, he  became  a  student  in  Hackney 
College  ;  and,  having  passed  a  most 
successful  college  career,was  ordained 
as  pastor  of  the  church  at  Clare,  in 
Suffolk. 

1015.  Dr.  Morrison. — It  is  said, 
that,  of  the  missionaries  who  have 
gone    from    Great    Britain    to    the 


heathen,  nineteen-twentieths  became 
pious  at  the  Sabbath- schools ;  and 
that  of  the  orthodox  ministers  in 
England  who  are  under  forty  years 
of  age,  more  than  two-thirds  became 
pious  at  the  Sabbath- schools.  Hen- 
derson and  Patterson,  who  have  done 
wonders  on  the  Continent  in  regard 
to  the  Bible  cause,  it  is  said,  received 
their  first  impressions  at  Sabbath- 
schools.  The  celebrated  Dr.  Morri- 
son, missionary  in  the  vast  empire  of 
China,  who  translated  the  whole 
Bible  into  Chinese,  a  language  spoken 
by  the  largest  appreciated  population 
on  the  globe,  became  pious  at  a  Sab- 
bath-school.— Dr.  Steel. 

1016.  Pastoral  Biographies.  — 
Our  missionary  and  pastoral  bio- 
graphies are  full  of  these  trophies  of 
Divine  grace,  exhibiting  this  taking 
of  children  from  the  very  poorest  of 
the  people,  to  make  them  princes  in 
the  Church  of  God  in  all  lands ; — 
noble  and  commanding  intellects 
that,  but  for  the  first  opening  to  day- 
light which  the  Sunday-school  fur- 
nished, might  have  remained  forever 
hidden  and  unknown. — Dr.  Tyng. 

■  1017.  Students Of  507  students, 

at  six  theological  institutions  in  the 
United  States,  313  were  instructed  in 
the  Sunday-schools,  and  the  average 
age  of  their  conversion  was  sixteen 
years.  In  a  single  town,  500  per- 
sons were  received  into  a  church  in 
40  years ;  more  than  400  of  these 
were  children  of  pious  persons,  and 
most  of  them  embraced  the  Gospel  in 
early  life.  In  a  revival  which  took 
place  in  Lewisburgh,  Yirginia,  there 
were  converted  and  joined  the'Chui'ch, 
79,  or  47  per  cent.,  from  the  age  of 
10  to  20  years  ;  from  20  to  30  years 
there  were  48,  or  28  per  cent. 
During  the  1 1  years,  there  were  con- 
verted in  the  Sunday-schools  of  the 
M.  E.  Church,  United  States, 
143,867.— -Ba^e. 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WOELD. 


403 


1018.  New  York  Conference. — 
During  tlie  session  of  the  last  New 
York  East  Conference  (1864),  Eev. 
S.  H.  Plate  privately  collected  the 
following  statistics:  "Of  142  min- 
isters called  on  in  this  Conference, 
the  average  age  at  conversion  was 
only  15,  3'5  years ;  and  about  one- 
sixth  of  them  were  converted  when 
less  than  12  years  of  age." — Bate. 

1019.  From  a  Boston  Sunday- 
School. — A  writer,  speaking  of  a 
•certain  S.  S.  in  Boston,  says:  "One 
•of  the  former  teachers  in  that  school 
is  now  settled  in  the  ministry  in  this 
vicinity ;  another  is  a  useful  printer 
in  the  Sandwich  Islands ;  another  is 
a  superintendent  of  a  S.  S.  in  this 
city ;  and  a  fourth  is  studjdna:  at 
Andover,  to  fit  himself  for  teaching 
a  day-school.  One  of  the  former 
pupils  is  now  studying  with  refer- 
<ence  to  the  ministry ;  two  others  are 
far  advanced  in  their  college  course, 
and  one  of  these  will  probably  become 
a  herald  of  that  Gospel  which  he 
loves." — Dr.   Cheever. 

1020.  A  Voice  from  China.— 
A  missionary  in  China  who  had  been  ] 
trained  up  in  a  S.  S.  from  his  earliest 
boyhood,  and  who  filled,  with  much 
xeal  and  faithfulness,  for  several 
years  the  ofiice  of  teacher,  on  the 
•evening  preceding  his  departure 
from  the  institution,  at  the  ac- 
customed weekly  meeting  of  teachers, 
when  taking  his  leave  made  this  re- 
mark: "Do   not  be   discouraged  in 

I   am   indebted  to  my 
teacher  for  the  first  de- 
were    kindled    in    my 
feosom,  and  my  final   determination 
to  be  a  missionary  of  the  Cross." — 
Whitecross. 

1021.  North  of  England.— In  a 
S.  S.  in  the  Xorth  of  England,  say 
the  authors  of  the  "  History  of  Dis- 
senters," one  class  of  fourteen  boys 
m  rewarded    the   labours    of    their 


Tour  work ; 
faithful  S.  S 
sires  which 


teacher,  that  every  one  of  them  be- 
came decidedly  pious,  was  received 
into  communion  with  a  Christian 
church,  and  every  one  rose  to  the 
honour  of  preaching  the  Gospel, 
either  to  his  countrjTuen  at  home  or 
to  the  heathen  abroad. —  Whitecross. 

1022.  College  Students  as  Sun- 
day-school Teachers. — Among  the 
five  hundred  students  at  different 
times  connected  with  the  Jesus-lane 
Sunday-school  (Oxford,  England)  as 
teachers,  many  are  mentioned  who 
stood  high  in  literary  attainments : 
"  It  was  encouraging,"  say  the  com- 
mittee in  reference  to  one  of  these, 
"to  see  one  who  had  already  carried 
off"  several  college  prizes,  and  whom 
high  academical  honours  awaited, 
finding  spiritual  refreshment  and 
relaxation  in  leading  the  tender 
lambs  of  the  fiock  to  the  Shepherd 
and  Bishop  of  souls."  It  has  been 
thought  by  some  that  the  engage- 
ments of  a  Sunday-school  teacher 
are  adverse  to  academical  success, 
and  that  scarcely  any  men  of  high 
university  standing  have  employed 
the  hours  of  the  Sabbath  in  this 
work.  The  records  of  Jesus-lane 
Sunday-school  show  that  this  opinion 
is  without  foundation.  Between  the 
years  1827,  in  which  the  school  was 
commenced,  and  1835,  two  hundred 
and  forty-three  of  the  teachers  gra- 
duated with  honours ;  and  of  that 
number  the  names  of  one  hundred 
and  two  were  found  in  the  first  class 
of  the  mathematical  or  of  the  classi- 
cal tripos. — 'S'.  S.  Scrap-hooh. 

1023.  Collegians  at  Cambridge. 
— The  following  statement,  from  the 
eighth  number  of  the  Rev.  C.  B. 
Taylor's  "  Social  Evils  and  their 
Eemedy,"  will  show  that  Sunday- 
schools  are  not  only  useful  to  the 
children  taught  in  them,  but  that 
they  sometimes  call  forth  the  ener- 
gies  of    young   men  of  talent,    and 


404 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


tend  to  prepare  them  for  future  use- 
fulness:— "I  may  ; mention  a  fact, 
perhaps  hut  little  known,  of  the 
University  of  Camhridge.  There  is, 
and  has  heen  for  some  years,  at  that 
place  a  Sunday-school  of  two  thou- 
sand scholars,  supported  and  taught 
entirely  by  the  undergraduates  of 
the  'University ;  and  among  the  most 
diligent,  efficient,  and  the  humblest 
of  all  the  teachers  of  that  Sunday- 
school  w^as  a  young  man  of  high 
connections,  who  had  lately  taken 
the  very  highest  academical  honours ; 
nay,  I  believe  that  it  was  the  testi- 
mony of  his  most  distinguished 
examiner.  Professor  A — y,  that  no 
senior  wrangler  for  many  years  had 
approached  his  standard  of  excel- 
lence." Whatever  the  worldly  and 
the  prejudiced  may  say  against  Sun- 
day -  schools  and  Sunday  -  school 
teachers,  we  would  say  with  a  truly 
Christian  poet  on  the  same  sub- 
ject— 

"  God  scorns  not  humble  things  ; — 
There,  though  the  proud  despise, 
The  children  of  the  King  of  kings 
Ayq  training  for  the  skies." 


DEFEEEED  EESULTS. 

1024.  A  Hint  to  Teachers.— 
''  The  lessons  of  childhood  are  for 
the  most  part  learned  merely  by  rote, 
especially  such  as  concern  Divine 
things — Scriptures,  and  hymns,  and 
catechisms  —  unmeaning  words  for 
the  most  part  at  the  time,  retained 
in  the  memory,  and  lit  up  long  after 
when  the  sun  of  the  understanding 
has  risen  upon  them,  to  the  infinite 
comfort  and  profit  of  the  soul.  They 
who  require  that  the  child  should 
understand  all  he  learns,  require 
him  to  be  either  prematurely  a  man 
or  always  a  child." — Dean  Alford. 

1025.  Early  Impressions. — Who 
is  it  that  e\er  was  a   scholar?  that 


doth  not  carry  away  some  verses 
w^hich  in  his  youth  he  learned,  and 
even  to  old  age  serve  him  for  hourly 
lessons  ?. — Sir  Philip  Sydney. 

1026.  A  Sheffield  Scholar.— 
In  the  year  1827,  a  young  man  en- 
tered the  school  in  Queen-street, 
Sheffield,  to  appearance  a  perfect 
stranger.  On  being  interrogated,  he 
stated,  that  he  merely  came  to  visit 
the  school  in  which  he  had  formerly 
been  a  scholar.  About  seven  years 
before  this  he  left  England,  and 
W'ent  to  Paris,  where  he  had  settled ; 
but  frequently,  in  that  place,  the- 
Sabbath- school  recurred  to  hi& 
thoughts.  The  kind  instructions 
which  he  had  received,  the  privileges 
he  had  enjoyed,  the  advantages  he 
had  derived,  were  often  present  to- 
his  mind,  and  he  felt  how  ill  he  had 
requited  his  teachers  for  their  la- 
bour and  trouble.  He  said  he  could 
not  resist  the  inclination  he  had  to 
visit  his  Sunday-school  once  more  ; 
that  he  should  not  have  been  com- 
fortable without  doing  so  ;  and  that 
he  should  long  remember  the  kind 
instructions  received  there.  He 
parted  from  the  superintendent  much, 
affected. 

1027.  A  Sailor. — Two  young  men 
sailors,  called  upon  the  superinten- 
dent of  a  Sunday-school  at  New- 
castle, to  express  their  gratitude  for 
the  instructions  they  had  there  re- 
ceived ;  one  of  them  in  particular 
said — he  had  been  in  most  parts  of 
the  world,  exposed  to  every  sort  of 
scene  and  company,  and  though  he 
had  not  been  so  steady  as  he  ought 
to  have  been,  he  had  learned  at  the 
Sunday-school  what  made  him 
always  afraid  to  profane  the  Lord's- 
day. 

1028.  An  old  Pensioner, — An 
aged  man  in  America,  a  military 
pensioner,  w^ho  commenced  his  Chris- 
tian life  at  threescore  years  and  ten^ 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


405 


was  induced  to  join  a  Sabbath- 
school.  Speaking  of  the  benefits 
derived  from  the  school,  he  said  he 
had  been  in  the  habit  of  reading  the 
Bible  from  his  youth,  and  had  read 
it  through  many  times,  and  thought 
he  understood  it  tolerably  well ;  but 
when  he  joined  the  Sabbath -school, 
he  found  it  was  necessary  to  do 
something  more  than  read  the  Bible 
— ^he  had  to  search  the  Scriptures. 
And  it  led  him  to  observe,  that  we 
are  nowhere  commanded  to  read  the 
Bible,  but  everywhere  directed  and 
encouraged  to  ' '  search  the  Scrip- 
tures." 

1029.  Distant   Prospects That 

in  a  great  majority  of  cases  no  present 
visible  effect,  of  a  religious  kind,  is 
produced,  I  admit  ;  bat  equally 
obvious  it  is  that,  in  not  a  few 
instances,  this  happy  result  has  been 
witnessed.  Could  you  look  at  the 
aggregate  of  success  which  has  al- 
ready followed  these  exertions,  you 
would  behold  a  scene  which  would 
fix  your  attention  in  silent  wonder, 
or  raise  your  heart  to  transports  of 
delight.  It  is  a  fact  which  abundant 
evidence  confirms,  that  multitudes  of 
children  have  already  been  converted 
to  God,  blessed  for  both  worlds,  and 
made  happy  for  eternity,  by  means  of 
Sunday-school  instruction.  At  the 
verymoment  when  you  are  giving  vent 
to  sighs  of  disappointment,  and  yield- 
ing to  the  influence  of  despondency, 
a  thousand  harps  are  struck  in  heaven 
by  a  band  of  glorified  spirits,  who 
received  their  first  devout  impressions 
in  a  Sunday-school.  Could  you 
listen  to  their  harmony,  and  gaze 
upon  their  beauty — could  you  witness 
the  seraphic  glow  which  is  diffused 
over  their  frames,  and  hear  the 
rapturous  praises  which  they  pour 
forth  to  Him  that  sits  upon  the 
throne,  as  often  as  they  repeat  the 
honoured  name  of  their  beloved 
teacher — before    such   a   scene    dis- 


couragement would  instantly  vanish, 
and   animating  hope  would  fill   its 
place.     When  you  feel  despondency 
creeping    through    your    soul,    send 
your  imagination  for  one  of    those 
heavenly  harpers,  and  let  her  charm 
away  the  gloomy  thoughts  of  your 
troubled  breast  by  the  song  of  her 
conversion.     On  the  way  to  heaven, 
as   well   as  within  its  gates,  are  a 
goodly  company,  redeemed  from  their 
vain  conversation,  within  the  limits 
of    a     Sunday-school.      Scarcely    a 
Christian  church  will  be  found  in  the 
kingdom,   which   has   had   such   an 
institution  under  its  care,  but  records 
some  members  who  by  these  means 
were   converted    from    the   error   of 
their  ways.     The  number  of  living 
witnesses   who,    from  heartfelt    ex- 
perience, can  bear  their  testimony  to 
the  spiritual  benefit  of  this  system, 
would    fill    several  -of    our    largest 
places   of    public    worship. — J.    A. 
James. 

1030,  ¥e  shall  Meet  at  Last.— 
A  commander  of  a  British  vessel  of 
war,  sailing  from  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  was  charged  with  the  convoy 
of  a  little  sloop  of  value,  to  England. 
They  were  in  mutual  sight  for  many 
days.  But  a  storm  arose,  and  sepa- 
rated them  finally.  The  armed 
vessel  pursued  her  course  homeward, 
the  captain  not  expecting  to  see  his 
little  charge  again.  He  entered  the 
Channel,  and  anchored  off  Portsmouth 
in  a  fog,  with  a  heavy  heart,  in 
remembrance  of  her.  But  when  the 
thick  fog  lifted,  what  was  his  sur- 
prise at  seeing  the  little  lost  craft 
anchored  in  peace  dri^ectly  by  his 
side !  In  equal  ignorance  of  his 
course,  her  commander  had  dropped 
his  anchor  there.  Ah  !  what  a  joyful 
meeting  there  will  be  with  many  of 
;  our  little  ones,  too,  when,  safe  at 
I  last,  we  see  them  there.  Doubt, 
i  perhaps  despair  for  them,  may  have 
1  possessed    us    long.      Ignorance    of 


406 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WOKLD. 


tbem  may  have  distressed  us  mucli. 
But  when  the  darkness  has  passed 
and  the  true  light  shineth,  we  shall 
welcome  them  with  deKght,  and 
rejoice  over  them  with  singing. 
But  which  shall  prosper,  whether 
this  or  that,  let  us  never  forget  that 
our  Blessed  Master  says  to  each  of 
us,     *'  Be    thou    faithful    UjStto 

DEATH,    AND    I    WILL    GIVE    THEE   A 

CEOWN  OF  LIFE." — 2yng. 

1031.  God  may  carry  on  the  Work 
that  the  Teacher  begins. — Children, 
in  whose  hearts  devout  impression 
may  have  been  produced,  are  often 
removed  from  beneath  your  care 
before  you'  have  an  opportunity  to 
mtness  the  fruit  of  your  toil ;  but 
the  eye  of  God  is  upon  His  own 
work,  and  He  will  one  day  make 
known  to  you  all  that  He  does  by 
you. — J.  A.  Jatnes. 

1032.  Late  Pruit. — Many  cases 
liave  been  under  my  notice  of  the 
blessing  iipon  faithful  teaching  long 
postponed,  and  yet  at  last,  even  in 
maturity,  crowning  the  work.  And 
I  have  no  doubt  a  very  large  pro- 
portion of  all  the  conversions  we  see 
in  the  church  might  be  traced,  if  we 
knew  all  the  facts,  to  the  Scriptural 
knowledge  laid  up  in  the  youthful 
mind  b}^  faithfid  teaching.  The 
incorruptible  seed  of  the  Word  may 
lie  beneath  the  ground  through  a 
long  winter  of  hopeless  indifierence 
and  crime,  and  yet  furnish  the 
inestimable  instrument  of  Divine 
power,  when  the  moment  comes  that 
God  shall  mercifully  speak  it  into 
life  and  growth.  And  this  laying 
up  of  knowledge  for  the  future 
quickening  work  of  the'  Spirit  is  a 
most  important  benefit  which  faithful 
teaching  confers.'  The  certainty  of 
this  may  lead  a  praying,  anxious 
teacher  to  have  long  patience,  doubt- 
ing not  that  in  due  season  he  shall 
reap  if  he  faint  not. — Tyng, 


1033.  Teacher  Pirst,  then  Con- 
science.— Even  those  unhappy  youths 
whose  conduct  excludes  all  joy  for 
the  present,  and  almost  all  hope  for 
the  future,  even  they,  at  some  dis- 
tant time,  may  yield  a  rich  harvest 
from  the  seed  which  is  now,  with 
respect  to  them,  sown  in  tears.  The 
instructions  you  communicate  can 
never  be  totally  forgotten.  They 
give  light  and  power  to  the  conscience  ; 
keep  the  mind  in  a  state  of  suscep- 
tibility to  devout  impression ;  and 
render  the  heart  more  fit  to  be  acted 
upon  by  those  incidents  of  a  proAT.- 
dential  nature  which  are  continually 
occurring  to  arrest  the  sinner  in  his 
career.  In  the  gloomy  season  of 
distress,  when  reflection  can  be 
resisted  no  longer,  then  what  they 
were  taught  in  the  school  may  be 
brought  vividly  to  their  remembrance. 
Then,  when  no  preacher  and  no  friend 
is  near,  conscience  may  recall  the 
terrors  of  the  law,  and  memory  the 
glad  tidings  of  the  Gospel,  till  the 
poor  trembling  sinner,  amidst  the 
long-neglected  stores  that  were  de- 
posited in  her  mind  at  the  Sunday- 
school,  finds  the  means  of  her 
conviction,  conversion,  and  conso- 
lation.— /.  A.  James. 

10.34.  Good  News  from  a  Par 
Oonntry.  —  What  blessings  some 
teachers  live  to  enjoy  as  the  divinely- 
bestowed  fruits  of  their  work !  A 
beloved  missionary  from  Africa,  who 
has  now  laboured  for  eleven  years 
on  that  dark  shore,  has  just  re- 
turned among  us.  He  went  from 
all  the  joys  and  luxuries  of  this  city,, 
in  the  morning  of  his  ministry,  to 
give  himself  to  the  Lord  for  that 
peculiarly  self-denying  work.  He 
found,  on  his  present  retui'n,  his  early 
Sunday-school  teacher  still  at  work 
in  her  important  trust.  This  be- 
loved missionary  and  another  clergy- 
man settled  in  this  city  were  two  of 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WOKLD. 


407 


her  boys,  when  she  gave  herself,  as 
a  youth,  with  peculiar  love  aud  life, 
to  this  important  work.  The  youth- 
ful teacher  has  passed  into  the  ma- 
turer  age  and  circumstances  of  life, 
surrounded  with  her  large  family 
cares  and  calls,  and  yet  she  labours 
on  with  all  the  attraction  of  sancti- 
fied talent  and  loveliness  of  charac- 
ter, which  early  blessed,  and  still 
equally  bless  the  generations  of 
youth  committed  to  her. — Dr.  Tyng. 

1035.  Teachers  are  not  Forgotten. 
— Few  teachers  are  aware  how  long 
they  are  remembered,  and,  if  faith- 
ful,   with    how  much  affection,   by 
their   scholars.     More   than  twenty 
years   ago,    a  lady,    in   a   destitute 
neighbourhood,  opened  in  her  own 
house  what   she   called   a  Sabbath- 
school.   The  Bible  and  the  catechism 
were  recited  by  a  number  of  child- 
dren  who  united  in  the  school.     This 
teacher  was  a  mother,  and  often  has 
been  known  to  hear  thirty  or  forty 
recitations   's^n.th   an   infant    in  her 
arms.      These   self-denying   labours 
were   not  overlooked  by  the  Great 
Head   of   the   Church.     Those   who 
attended  her   school  grew  up  alto- 
gether  unlike   others   in    the   same 
neighbourhood  who  did  not  attend. 
The  moulding  of  their  minds,  and 
the  forming  of  their  characters,  seem  | 
to  have  been  done  by  her,  and  that,  j 
too,   in   some    instances,   when  the  | 
almost   omnipotent   example  of  pa-  | 
rents   was   directly  opposed  to   her ; 
iniluence.      Three    of    her    scholars 
were  the  daughters  of  profane  and 
intemperate  parents.     Such  was  the 
hold  which  this  devoted  teacher  ob- 
tained over  their  affections  and  con- 
fidence, that  she  rescued  them  from 
the  ruinous  influence  of  these  parents, 
and  trained  them  to  be  ornaments 
in   society.     They  were  respectably 
settled  in  life.     Several  of  her  scho- 
lars who  had  removed  to  other  places, 
and  had  grown  out  of  her  recollec- 


tion, have  been  known  to  return  and 
extend  the  warm  hand  of  greeting, 
and  hail  her  as  their  former  teacher 
and  friend.     One  of  her  pupils,  who 
had  taken  up  her  residence  in  a  new 
and  remote  section  of  the  State,  was 
induced,   by  a  remembrance  of  the 
example  and  influence  of  this  teacher, 
to   go   and   do  likewise.      She   also 
collected   children  around   her,  and 
taught  them  the  things  which  per- 
tain to  their  eternal  welfare.     One 
scholar,  while  on  her  death-bed,  sent 
;  a  messenger  from  the  town  in  which 
\  she   was    residing,   to   request    this 
teacher  to  come  and  see  her.      She 
I  was  unable  to  go ;  but  just  as  the 
I  young  lady  was  going  into  eternity, 
I  leaning  upon  the    staff  of  the  Ee- 
j  deemer,   she  left  a  special  message 
j  for  her  teacher  :   "  Tell  her  that  her 
'  instructions    in    that   little  Sabbath- 
school  tvere  blessed  to  the  salvation 
of  my  80111." — Todd. 

1036.  A  British  Oonsurs  Story. 
— This  moment  the  British  Consul 
has  related  to  me  an  anecdote  too 
interesting  to  be  suffered  to  pass 
unnoticed.  A  few  days  since,  a 
young  man,  about  19  years  of  age, 
called  at  the  Consul's  office,  and 
made  himself  known  as  one  whom, 
but  a  few  years  before,  the  Consul 
had  taken  into  his  own  Sunday- 
school,  in  the  north  of  Ireland. 
He  was  then  a  poor,  little,  help- 
less, wretched  outcast.  No  father 
owned  him  for  a  son;  but  the 
Sunday-school  was  to  him  as  a 
father,  a  sister,  and  a  brother.  The 
precepts  of.  religion  and  morality, 
which  he  learned  there,  have  taken 
deep  root  into  his  heart,  and  are 
now  ripening  into  abundance  of 
fruit.  He  put  in  the  Consul's 
hand  more  than  100  dollars,  the 
little  earnings  he  had  laid  up,  to  be 
remitted  to  his  mother,  the  forlorn 
daughter  of  shame  and  sorrow. — 
i^eio  York  Paper,  July,  1819. 


408 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


BENEFITS  TO  THE  SOHOLAES. 

1037.  Youthful  Oonversions. — 
Similar  incidents  of  actual  conver- 
sion under  Sunday-school  instruction 
have  occurred  in  such  numbers  that 
I  might  fill  many  sheets  of  paper 
with  them.  I  have  seen  them  mani- 
fested in  children  from  six  years 
old  and  upwards  ; — infants  giving 
a  clear  account  of  their  hope  in 
Jesus,  and  love  to  Him, — and  thus, 
according  to  the  promise  of  the 
Spirit,  "perfecting  His  praises."  I 
have  seen  whole  families  brought  to 
Christ  under  such  influence,,  who 
were  far  off  from  all  Christian  habits 
even,  until  little  ones  carried  home 
from  the  Sunday-school  the  life- 
giving  messages  of  truth.  —  Dr. 
Tyng. 

1038.  A  Child's  Prayer.— A  little 
child  knelt  near  the  broken  lattice. 
Casting  a  glance  at  the  sleeping  form 
of  her  father,  she  clasped  her  wan 
hands,  and  murmured — "0  God, 
make  father  leave  his  evil  ways ; 
make  him  my  own  dear  father  once 
again  !  Make  mother's  sad  looks  go 
away,  and  make  her  old  smile  come 
back ;  but  Thy  way  will  be  done." 
Just  thenthe  mother  enteredtheroom, 
and  taking  her  husband  by  the  arm, 
she  said — "  Hearken  to  Minnie  ;  she 
is  praying."  -"  0  God,  make  father 
love  me  as  once  he  did,  and  make  him 
forsake  his  bad  ways  !  "  murmured 
the  little  one  again.  "Oh,  Paul- 
husband  !  "  cried  the  mother  ;  "by 
our  past  joys  and  sorrows,  by  our 
marriage  vows,  our  wedded  love, 
blight  not  the  life  of  our  little  one ! 
Oh!  let  us  all  be  happy  again." 
The  conscience-stricken  man  bowed 
his  head  and  wept ;  then  claspino:  his 
hands,  he  said — "  With  God's  help, 
you  v/ill  never  be  made  to  sorrow  on 
my  account  again."  And  he  kept 
his  vow. — Evangelist, 


1039.  The      Sydney      Sabbath 
Scholar. — He  had  written   request 
for  none  of  his  own  people,  and  none 
came  to  visit  him.     His  wound,  after 
a  season,   proved  mortal,  and  from 
the  period  of  its  infliction  prevented 
speech,    but     he     evidently   joined 
heartily  in  my  devotions,  and  when  I 
inquired    was    he     repenting     and 
trusting  in  Jesus,  he  made  earnest 
signs  to  me  that  he  was  so  doing. 
Visiting  one  of  our  own  families  in 
the  coiu'se  of  the  day,  I  was  asked  if 
I  had  found  this  man  in  the  infir- 
mary.   His  sad  history  was  soon  told 
to  me :  first  came  drink — then  em- 
bezzlement— then  threatened  arrest 
unless  property  was  returned  by  a 
certain  day — then  a  journey  by  rail 
for    the    purpose    of    suicide — then 
found   in   a  field  with    his    throat 
dreadfully  cut — then  brought  to  the 
Sydney  Infirmary.     During  attacks 
of  rheumatism,  to  which  this  poor 
man  was  subject,  a  son  of  my  friend 
was  wont  to  cross  to  his  shop,  sit  by 
his  bedside,  and  repeat  to  him  what 
he  had  heard  or  read  at  his  Sunday- 
school.     The  poor  old  Jew  appeared 
to  take  great  interest  in  the  parables 
of  our  Lord.     From  first  to 'last,  he 
must  have    received    a  very  large 
amount  of  Christian  instruction  from 
this  lad,  who  takes  great  delight  in 
reading  and  repeating  long  portions 
of    Scripture  to   people.      He  is   a 
story-teller  of   the  right  sort.     It 
may  be  a  novelty  in  the  annals  of 
religious   anecdote,  to   report  a  re- 
putedly half-witted    Sunday-school 
boy  as  the — may  we  not  say  probable 
instrument  in  the  conversion  of  an 
aged  Jewish  suicide,  but  if,  when  I 
visited  him,  his  upturned  streaming 
eyes  and  clasped  hands  meant  not 
fervent  union  with  my  prayers  for 
mercy  through  Jesus,  then  do  I  con- 
fess to  never  having  seen  the  linea- 
ments of  supplication  impressed  upon 
the   human  countenance. — Rev.  R, 
W.  Vanderkisfe, 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


409 


1040.  ITeuchritel  Scholar.  —  At 
this  meeting  the  Rev.  Professor  Nagel 
narrated  the  following  very  inte- 
resting incident: — "I  had  in  my 
Sunday-school  a  little  girl  of  eleven 
years.  I  never  took  more  care  of 
her  than  of  others,  and  never  ex- 
pected more  from  her  than  from  her 
fellow- scholars.  She  attended  my 
school  for  about  two  years,  when  she 
was  obliged  to  leave  our  town,  and 
to  go  home  into  the  country.  In  her 
village  was  no  Sunday-school,  and 
she  felt  the  want  deeply.  "What 
was  to  be  done  ?  She  said  to  her- 
self, *  If  there  is  no  Sunday-school 
here,  I  must  open  one.'  IS^o  sooner 
said  than  done.  She  went  to  some 
little  girls  in  the  village,  and  told 
them  what  we  did  in  our  Sunday- 
school  ;  and  then  she  asked,  '  Will 
you  not  come  to  me  next  Sunday? 
and  we  will  pray  together,  and  sing 
beautiful  hymns,  and  read  the  Bible, 
just  as  we  did  at  Xeuchatel  in  the 
Sunday-school.'  They  said,  '  We 
will  come.'  And  thej'  came, — the 
first  time  five  or  six,  then  ten  or 
twelve,  then  twenty  or  more ;  and 
the  old  girls  of  the  village  came  also 
to  the  little  girl,  and  asked  permis- 
sion to  come  also  ;  and  at  length  our 
dear  little  girl  of  eleven  years  saw 
around  her,  every  Sunday,  a  school 
of  about  forty  children,  from  six  to 
fifteen  years  of  age.  She  prayed 
with  them ;  taught  them  some  of 
our  hymns  ;  she  read  the  Bible  as  we 
do  :  and  explained  it  as  well  as  she 
could.  Her  mother,  who  sometimes 
listened  from  behind  the  door,  said,  ! 
*  I  never  could  hear  her  from  the 
next  room  without  shedding  tears.'  " 
— Prof.  Nagelj  of  Neuchatel. 

1041.  The  Secret  Work.  —  In 
addition  to  this,  numberless  instances 
of  external  reformation  have  oc- 
curred, and  many  who  would 
otherwise  have  been  running  to  ex- 
cess or  riot,  have  been  trained  to 


habits  of  morality,  industry,  and 
order.  In  many  cases,  the  seed  of 
the  kingdom  begins  to  germinate  long 
before  your  eye  discerns  the  hidden 
process.  A  secret  work  is  going  on, 
which  shall  one  day  surprise  and 
delight  you.  The  first  dawn  of  day 
commences  amidst  the  thickest 
shades  of  night ;  the  tide  begins  to 
turn  long  before  it  is  observed  by  a 
person  walking  upon  the  shore  ;  thus 
the  incipient  stage  of  conversion  is 
often  hidden  amidst  the  remains  of 
unregeneracy  from  every  eye  but  His 
who  sees  in  secret.  When  you  are 
most  discouraged,  there  may  be  the 
least  cause  for  it. — J,  A.  James. 

1042.  The  Pious  Chimney- 
sweeper. —  A  poor  boy,  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Chatham,  was 
bound  apprentice  to  a  chimney- 
sweeper. Some  time  afterwards  he 
began  to  attend  the  Sunday-school, 
and  there  was  reason  to  hope  that 
the  instructions  he  received  were 
useful  to  him.  Being  one  day  sent 
to  sweep  a  chimney,  instead  of  the 
dismal  noise  which  is  usually  made 
on  these  occasions,  he  was  heard 
singing  these  sweet  lines  of  Dr. 
Watts— 

"  The  sorrows  of  the  mind 

Be  banished  from  this  place ; 
Eeligion  never  was  design'd 
To  make  our  pleasure  less." 

1043.  Truthfulness.— A  little  boy 
belonging  to  one  of  the  schools  con- 
nected with  the  Kingsbridge  Sunday- 
school  Union,  about  the  year  1822, 
being  requested  by  his  father  to 
fetch  some  money  due  to  him,  de- 
sired the  boy  to  say  he  wanted  to 
pay  for  something  he  had  purchased; 
the  child  said,  "  Father,  I  must  not 
tell  a  lie,  it  would  be  very  wi'ong ; 
for  my  teacher  says  God  knows 
everything  we  say."  Another  little 
child,  five  years  old,  who  heard  her 
mother  say  what  was  untrue,  ex- 
claimed,    "  0,     mother  I    do     you 


410 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WORLD. 


know  it  is  very  wicked  to  tell  a  lie  ? 
for  God  knows  it,  and  is  very  angry ! 
We  cannot  see  God,  mother;  but  He 
can  see  ns  always,  and  knows  what 
we  do." 

1044.  Honesty. — A  coloured  boy, 

living  with  Dr.  M ,  of  P ,  in 

America,  was  sent  by  a  little  boy  in 
the  family  with  six  cents  (halfpence) 
to  buy  a  top  for  him.  On  his  return, 
he  told  the  child  that  the  top  had 
cost  twelve  cents,  and  that  he  had 
paid  ,the  other  six  from  his  own 
money.  He  was  repaid,  and  no  more 
was  thought  of  the  aifair.  Some 
time  after,  the  coloured  boy  was  in- 
troduced to  a  Sunday-school ;  and 
having  learned  some  valuable  lessons, 
he  one  day  said  to  his  master's  son, 
*'  I  gave  but  six  cents  for  that  top, 
and  not  twelve,  as  I  told  you ;  but  I 
did  not  know  then,  as  I  do  since  I 
have  been  to  a  Sunday-school,  how 
wicked  such  things  are."  Handing 
him  six  cents  from  his  pocket,  he 
said,  * '  I  have  been  saving  them  for 
you,  one  by  one — take  them,  they 
are  yours." 

1045.  Self-Denial.— Mr.  Hyde, 
some  years  ago  a  missionary  in  Ja- 
maica, relates  that  a  company  of 
strolling  players  endeavoured  to  get 
up  a  play  at  Falmouth,  a  small  town 
not  far  from  English  Harbour.  A 
young  lady  offered  a  ticket  to  a  little 
girl  belonging  to  the  Sunday-school, 
who  immediately  dropped  a  courtesy, 
and  said,  "Ma'am,  I  thank  you; 
but  I  hope  I  could  not  disgrace  the 
school  so  much  as  to  think  of  going 
to  such  a  place." 

1046.  Profane  Speaking. — Oneof 
the  teachers  of  the  Killingworth 
School,  belonging  to  the  Newcastle 
Union,  coming  home  from  work  one 
day,  overtook  a  boy,  whom  he  had 
known  to  be  very  wicked,  and  parti- 
cularly addicted  to  swearing ;  but 
he  did  not  know  that  he  had  gone 


to  a  Sunday-school  lately.  The 
teacher  asked  him  if  he  ever  swore 
now.  He  answered,  " No."  "What 
is  the  reason  you  have  left  off?" 
"  Because  I  go  to  the  Sunday-school 
now ! " 

1047.  An  Irish  G-irl.— One  of  the 
female  teachers  in  a  Sunday-school, 
in  Dublin,  in  the  course  of  reading 
the  Holy  Scriptures,  made  some  ob- 
servations on  that  passage  which 
speaks  of  the  man  who  built  his 
house  upon  the  sand.  Some  time 
after,  a  little  girl,  who  had  been 
listening  to  her  remarks,  came  to 
her,  and  said,  "  I  have  been  think- 
ing seriously  on  what  you  told  us 
about  the  man  who  built  his  house 
upon  the  sand,  and  have  felt  that  I 
was  in  the  same  situation  with  that 
person.  I  then  prayed  to  the  Lord 
to  show  me  the  right  foundation,  but 
found  my  mind  was  not  released 
from  its  load  ;  yet  I  continued 
earnest  in  my  prayers  to  God  on  this 
subject,  and  was  at  length  enabled 
to  see  that  I  had  built  my  house 
upon  the  rock,  even  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ ;  and  I  feel  confident  that  the 
Lord  put  it  into  the  heart  of  my 
dear  mother  to  send  me  to  this 
school." 

1048.  A  timely  Eeproof.— A  Sun- 
day-school boy,  in  London,  who  had 
been  well  taught,  received  a  visit 
from  a  country  cousin,  about  the 
same  age  as  himself,  and  it  was 
agreed  that  they  should  sleep  to- 
gether. When  they  went  to  their 
room,  the  Sunday-school  boy  kneeled 
down  by  the  bed-side  to  pray ;  but 
his  cousin  stripped  off  his  clothes 
and  hastily  got  into  bed.  When  the 
Sunday-scholar  arose  from  his  knees, 
he  asked  his  cousin  how  he  could 
think  of  going  to  bed  without  saying 
a  prayer.  He  replied  that  he  did 
not  know  any ;  but  this  did  not 
satisfy  the  other,  who  persuaded  him 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WORLD. 


411 


to  get   out  of  "bed   and  repeat  the 
Evening  Prayer  after  him. 

1049.  Teach  me  to  Pray.  — 
A  little  girl  belonging  to  one  of  the 
schools  connected  with  the  Kings- 
bridge  Union,  about  the  year  1822, 
appeared  deeply  concerned  about 
serious  things.  Tears  were  fre- 
quently seen  to  trickle  down  her 
cheeks  when  spoken  to  about  the 
salvation  of  her  soul.  On  being 
asked  if  she  prayed,  her  reply  was, 
"Yes,  often,  as  well  as  I  can:  but 
sometimes  I  find  it  very  difficult." 
One  day,  being  on  her  knees,  and 
finding  no  utterance,  she  cried, 
"  Lord,  teach  me  to  pray;  "  and  she 
said,  that  when  she  came  to  the 
Throne  of  Grace  again,  she  could  pray 
much  better. 

1050.  Tracts  Distributed.— At 
Rockcorry,  where  a  Sunday-school 
was  opened  in  the  summer  of  1820, 
not  one  child,  however  young,  was 
found  totally  ignorant ;  they  had 
been  taught  by  the  children  who 
formerly  attended  the  Sunday- 
school.  A  gentleman  called  at  the 
school,  examined  a  few  of  the  first 
class,  and  left  five  shillings  to  buy 
something  for  them.  A  teacher 
thought  they  should  be  consulted  as 
to  the  manner  in  which  the  present 
should  be  disposed  of.  When  the 
school  was  over,  he  said  to  them, 
"  Children,  what  do  you  want  ?  How 
shall  I  divide  this  money  ?  "  They 
were  all  silent.  He  mentioned  some 
tilings  which  he  thought  they  re- 
quired. Ko  reply.  At  length  a 
little  boy  whispered,  "Tracts." 
"Religious  Tracts!"  he  repeated 
aloud.  "Oh!  yes,  if  you  please," 
emphatically  re-echoed  every  boy  in 
the  class.  In  this  manner  instruc- 
tion may  extend  beyond  those  to 
whom  it  is  first  given,  and  may  be 
the  means  of  effecting  more  good 
than  can  be  easily  described. 


1051.  Missions  Supported. —  A 
little  boy,  a  Sabbath- scholar,  who 
was  in  the  habit  of  collecting  bones, 
had  collected  a  small  quantity  pre- 
vious to  the  Whitsuntide  holidays, 
which  he  tendered  for  sale  to  a  bone- 
buyer,  for  which  he  obtained  about 
three-pence.  "  There,  my  lad," 
said  the  bone -gatherer,  "  you  have 
plenty  of  money  to  spend  this  Whit- 
suntide." "  Ko,"  replied  the  boy, 
"I  have  not."  "No!  whv,  what 
will  you  do  with  it?"  "I  shaU 
send  "^it  for  the  black  children." 
"The  black  children!"  exclaimed 
the  dealer  in  bones.  "I  don't  un- 
derstand him.  What  does  he  mean  ?  " 
Here  it  was  explained  to  him  that 
the  money  was  to  go  towards  the 
support  of  a  school  in  India. 

1052.  ContentmeiLt. — A  Sunday- 
school  teacher  called  to  visit  the 
grandmother  of  one  of  her  scholars, 
who  was  unwell;  and,  when  rising 
to  take  her  leave,  inquired  after  her 
little  pupil.  The  grandmother  replied 
she  was  at  work,  and  added  that  she 
was  a  dutiful,  loving,  and  contented 
child  ;  and  further  expressed  her 
regret  that  she  could  not  make  her 
more  comfortable.  At  this  moment 
the  child  entered  the  room,  and  being 
asked  by  her  teacher  if  she  was  not 
tired  ofVork,  replied,  "Oh  no;  for 
you  know,  teacher,  that — 

"  Some  think  it  a  liardship  to  work  for 
their  bread, 
Although  for  their  good  it  was  meant ; 
But  those  who  don't  work  have  no  right 
to  be  fed, 
And  the  idle  are  never  content.' " 

1053.  An   Irish    Girl.  —  Jane 

M'C ,  a  Sunday- scholar  at  Tyrone, 

in  Ireland,  was  always  intent  upon 
learning  her  lessons  well,  though  she 
could  spare  but  little  time  from  her 
spinning-wheel,  as  her  mother  was 
a  widow,  and  had  two  children 
younger  than  Jane  to  provide  for. 
Her  teacher  contrived  a  plan  whereby 

2 


412 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WOELD. 


she  might  learn  her  chapter,  and  at 
the  same  time  get  on  with  her 
spinning.  Two  iron  spikes  were 
fastened  in  the  wall,  and  the  Bible 
laid  open  upon  them  before  her,  so 
that  she  could  pursue  her  daily 
labour  and  improve  her  mind  at  the 
same  time.  By  the  blessing  of  God 
on  His  Holy  Word,  she  was  brought 
to  a  heartfelt  acquaintance  with  her 
lost  state  as  a  sinner,  and  the  "  way 
of  salvation  hj  Jesus  Christ,"  and 
the  effect  of  this  knowledge  was 
suitably  manifested  in  her  life  and 
conversation.  On  one  occasion,  her 
mother,  having  sent  Jane  to  the 
market  to  sell  yarn,  the  purchaser 
overpaid  her.  Jane  did  not  discover 
this  till  she  reached  home,  when  she 
said  to  her  mother,  **The  merchant 
has  paid  me  too  much,  but  it  would 
be  wrong  of  me  to  keep  it."  She 
went  immediately  in  search  of  him, 
and  returned  the  extra  payment. 
Sunday-scholars,  go  and  do  likewise. 

1054.  Consecration.  —  At  the 
anniversary  of  a  Sunday-school,  at 
Copthall,  a  village  in  Essex,  on 
Sunday,  Oct.  5,  1834,  whilst  the 
collection  was  making,  a  little  boy, 
about  seven  years  of  age,  put  a  bag 
upon  the  plate.  As  it  was  rather 
heavy,  the  collector  was  curious  to 
ascertain  its  contents.  On  examina- 
tion, it  was  found  to  contain  two 
hundred  and  eighty-five  farthings, 
or  five  shillings  and  elevenpence 
farthing.  Upon  inquiry,  it  was 
foimd  that  the  boy  was  in  the  habit 
of  going  on  errands  for  his  mother, 
and  was  allowed  the  farthings  in 
change,  to  be  disposed  of  as  he 
pleased,  which  he  perseveringly 
saved,  and  generously  gave  to  the 
support  of  the  Sunday-school. 

1055.  Gambling. — A  boy  in  the 
Bridgehouse  Sunday-school,  Shef- 
field, passing  along  the  road,  saw  a 
party  of  wicked  lads  gambling.     He 


went  to  one  of  them,  and,  taking 
hold  of  him,  said,  '  *  Come,  John,  go 
with  me  to  the  prayer-meeting." 
''Nay,"  the  other  replied,  "if  I  do, 
these  lads  will  call  me  a  Methodist." 
The  Sunday-school  boy,  however, 
feeling  the  value  of  the  prayer- 
meeting,  and  desirous  of  making 
this  poor  ignorant  little  fellow 
happy,  said,  ''Never  mind  them, 
that  will  never  harm  you:  but 
whether  would  you  rather  be  called 
a  Methodist  for  a  few  years,'  or  be 
burning  in  hell-fire  for  ever?" 
"  Why,"  said  he,  "I  had  rather  be 
called  a  Methodist."  "  Then  come 
with  me ;  and  if  you  do  not  like  the 
prayer-meeting,  you  can  go  back 
again."  The  boy  was  persuaded, 
went  to  the  prayer-meeting,  and 
became  one  of  the  most  regular  and 
promising  scholars  in  the  school. 
How  very  easy  it  is  to  do  good, 
when  we  have  a  heart  to  do  it ! 

1056.  Concern  shown  for  Others. 
Among  a  few  facts  which  have  pre- 
sented themselves  to  our  attention, 
(say  the  committee  of  the  Kings- 
bridge  Sunday-school  Union  in  1 82 1 , ) 
one  is  that  of  a  little  boy,  about 
seven  years  of  age,  whose  deport- 
ment and  good  conduct  are  highly 
gratifying  to  his  teachers,  who,  of 
his  own  accord,  goes  to  the  work- 
house to  read  his  Testament  to  a 
poor  old  man  ;  a  second,  that  of  a 
little  girl,  who  reproved  an  aged 
man  for  swearing,  at  the  same  time 
ofiering  up  a  suitable  prayer  that  he 
might  never  do  so  again.  "  Out  of 
the  mouths  of  babes  hast  Thou,"  0 
God,  "  ordained  praise." 

1057.  The  Swearer's  Prayer. — 
A  girl  in  a  Sunday-school  at  Fenny 
Stratford,  being  desired  to  account 
for  her  absence  on  the  past  Sabbath, 
stated  as  follows: — "My  mother, 
against  my  wish,  insisted  on  my  at- 
tending the  annual  feast  at  W , 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WORLD. 


413 


where  I  met  with  several  female  re- 
lations, who  all  took  the  name  of  the 
Lord  in  vain  every  time  they  spoke. 
I  handed  to  one  of  them  the  tract 
called  the  '  Sweaiie:^'s  Peayee,' 
and,  in  the  evening,  requested  them 
to  accompany  me  to  hear  Mr.  C- 


preach,  which  they  refused  to  do, 
laughing  at  me.  The  following 
morning  I  went  all  round  the  village, 
Inquiring  if  any  children  did  not  at- 
tend a  Sunday-school.  I  found  only 
twelve,  whose  parents  promised  to 
send  them  next  Sabbath.  I  left  a 
tract  at  each  house,  and  also  a 
handbill  to  paste  on  the  walls." 

1058.  Smuggling. — A  lad,  about 
nine  years  of  age,  who  frequented  a 
Sunday-school  at  Sunderland,  re- 
quested his  mother  not  to  allow  his 
brother  to  bring  home  anything, 
when  he  went  to  sea,  that  was 
smuggled.  ''  Why  do  you  wish  that, 
child?"  He  answered,  "Because 
my  Catechism  says  it  is  wrong." 
The  mother  replied,  "  But  that  is 
only  the  word  of  a  man."  He  asked, 
"  Mother,  is  it  the  word  of  a  man 
which  says,  '  Render  unto  Csesar  the 
things  that  are  Ceesar's?'"  This 
reply  entirely  silenced  his  mother ; 
but  his  father  still  attempting  to 
defend  the  practice  of  smuggling, 
the  boy  said  to  him,  "  Father,  which 
is  worse — to  rob  one,  or  to  rob 
many?"  By  these  questions  and 
answers  the  boy  silenced  both  his 
parents  on  the  subject  of  smuggling. 

1059.  A  Teacher  Assisted. — 
A  few  years  ago,  a  number  of  boys, 
who  had  been  taught  in  a  Sabbath- 
school  near  Sheffield,  met  in  a  field, 
and  instead  of  spending  their  money 
in  oranges,  on  what  is  called  Shrove- 
Tuesday,  they  agreed  to  give  all 
they  had  to  their  teacher,  who  they 
knew  was  in  great  distress.  They 
tied  up  the  money  in  an  old  cloth, 
and,  when  it  was  dark,  they  opened 


his  door  and  threw  it  into  the  house. 
Inside  of  the  parcel  was  a  small 
piece  of  paper,  on  which  was  written, 
"  Trust  in  the  Lord,  and  do  good, 
and  verily  thou  shalt  be  fed." 

1060.  Orphans.— The  mother  of 
a  Sunday-school  boy,  about  thirteen 
years  of  age,  who  had  just  lost  her 
husband,  overwhelmed  with  grief, 
exclaimed,  "Oh!  how  we  shall  miss 
your  father  at  morning  and  evening 
prayer  !  "  "  Yes,  mother,"  said  the 
boy,  "  we  shall  miss  him,  but  for  all 
that,  we  must  not  forget,  nor  omit 
it ;  and  if  you  will  permit  me,  I 
will  try."  This  boy  afterwards  con- 
stantly officiated  as  leader  in  these 
devotional  exercises.  Of  how  much 
importance  is  it  that  pious  Sunday- 
school  children  should  pray  for  others 
as  well  as  for  themselves,  and  endea- 
vour, in  a  proper  manner,  to  persuade 
others  to  pray  with  them  ! 

1061.  Gratitude.— One  of  the 
boys  educated  in  the  Union  Schools, 
Diana-place,  New-road,  London, 
went  to  live  with  a  baker.  The  first 
sum  of  money  he  was  able  to  save 
out  of  his  own  earnings  was  ten 
shillings,  and  this  he  sent  to  the 
committee,  as  a  token  of  his  grati- 
tude for  the  religious  education  he 
had  received,  free  of  expense,  in 
those  schools. 


1062. 


The    late    Eev.    B. 


Rayson,  of  Tonbridge  Chapel,  London, 
at  a  public  meeting  of  the  Union 
Schools,  where  he  presided,  related 
the  following  fact: — "A  boy,  who 
had  been  educated  in  the  school  of 
Samuel  Hope,  Esq.,  at  Liverpool, 
and  who  had  received  a  medal  for 
good  conduct,  when  he  left  school 
went  to  sea.  But,  grateful  for  the 
benefit  he  had  received,  out  of  his 
wages  as  a  seaman  he  saved  the  sum 
of  five  pounds,  and  sent  it  as  his 
donation  to  the  school." 


414 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    Yv^ORLD. 


BEITEFITS    TO    PAEENTS    OP 
SOHOLAES. 

1063.  Grandmother  is  Learning. 
— A  boy,  at  Sheffield,  who  had  as- 
sisted his  sister  in  learning  to  read, 
expressed  a  wish  to  instruct  his 
mother,  and  requested  of  the  teacher 
some  elementary  book,  which  was 
given  to  him.  Some  time  after,  he 
was  asked  how  his  mother  suc- 
ceeded ;  he  replied,  with  a  dejected 
air,  ''  She  has  not  patience  ;  but," 
said  he,  his  countenance  brightening, 
^'  my  grandmother  is  learning." 

1064.  Thoughtless  Parents. — 
A  little  girl,  one  Sabbath  morning, 
was  much  affected  under  the  sermon, 
and  on  her  return  home  earnestly 
entreated  her  mother  would  accom- 
pany her  to  chapel  in  the  'evening, 
to  hear  how  delightfully  the  minister 
talked  about  Jesus  Christ.  The 
child  was  so  intent  on  this  object, 
that  she  made  the  request  with  tears, 
and  the  mother,  at  last,  consented  to 
accompany  her  importimate  girl  to 
the  chapel.  The  preacher  chose  for 
his  text,  *'  I  am  not  ashamed  of  the 
Uospel  of  Christ ;  for  it  is  the  power 
of  God  unto  salvation  "  (Rom.  i.  16). 
The  woman  was  seriously  and  effec- 
tually impressed  by  the  Word  of 
Ood,  was  led  earnestly  to  seek  salva- 
tion, and  obtained  mercy  by  faith  in 
Christ  Jesus.  The  wife  now  natu- 
rally became  anxious  for  the  salva- 
tion of  her  husband,  and  persuaded 
him  also  to  attend  the  chapel.  He 
also  submitted  to  the  influence  of 
the  truth,  and  both  the  parents  be- 
came grateful  to  God  for  the  child 
whose  importunity  led  them  to  hear 
the  Gospel  of  salvation. 

1065.  A  Mother  tanght  to  Eead. 
— A  little  girl,  in  the  Hoxton  Sun- 
day-school, in  a  state  of  extreme 
poverty,  was  asked  by  her  teacher 
which  she  should  prefer,  if  she  might 
have  her  choice,  either  to  continue 


to  be  poor,  and  enjoy  the  privileges 
of  the  Sunday-school,  or  to  be  rich, 
and  to  be  deprived  of  them.  She 
replied,  "I  would  rather  be  poor  as 
T  am."  Her  teacher  observed,  ''  But 
if  you  were  possessed  of  riches,  they 
would  procure  you  many  comforts  of 
which  poverty  deprives  you;"  the 
child  immediately  replied,  "But 
they  are  not  the  riches  which  will 
save  my  soul."  This  little  girl  be- 
came the  instructor  of  her  mother, 
who  could  not  read ;  and  expressed 
her  hope  that  her  mother  would  soon 
enjoy  the  same  pleasure  which  she 
felt,  in  being  able  to  read  the  Bible. 

1066.     A    Dying    Father    In- 
structed.— Edward  D ,  about 

seven  years  of  age,  who  attended  the 
Sunday-school  in  Brown-street,  Bel- 
fast, had,  by  his  unremitting  atten- 
tion and  diligence,  as  well  as  regular 
attendance,  excited  the  particular 
attention  of  his  teacher.  One  Sab- 
bath-day he  was  not  at  school.  His 
teacher  called  in  the  evening  to  in- 
quire the  cause  of  his  absence.  On 
entering  his  humble  habitation,  he 
was  not  a  little  surprised  at  the 
scene  before  him.  It  appeared  that 
the  boy's  father,  a  poor  and  industri- 
ous man,  had  been  employed  in  a 
brewery,  where  he  earned  a  'scanty 
subsistence.  He  had  a  wife  and  four 
children,  the  eldest  about  nine  years 
of  age.  Hard  labour,  and  perhaps 
ill  fare,  joined  to  a  severe  cold  he 
had  caught,  had  brought  him  to  the 
verge  of  the  grave.  There  lay  the 
poor  man  on  his  lowly  bed — from 
which  he  was  never  to  rise ;  beside 
him  sat  his  little  boy,  the  object  of 
his  fondest  solicitude.  He  was  read- 
ing in  his  Bible,  to  his  dying  and 
untutored  parent,  about  the  long- 
suffering,  mercy,  and  goodness  of 
God,  and  of  his  Son  Jesus  Christ. 


1067. 


A  poor  man,  in  Hack- 


ney, finding  himself,  as  he  thought,  at 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WOKLD. 


415 


the  point  of  death,  begged  his  vdfe 
to  inquire  if  anything  could  be  found 
to  take  away  the  distress  of  mind 
which  he  felt  at  the  thought  of 
dying.  ''Look,"  said  he,  "into 
Moore's  Almanac  ;  perhaps  he  says 
something  about  it."  His  little  girl, 
who  attended  a  Sunday-school,  said 
to  him,  "Father,  there  is  a  good 
man  belonging  to  our  school,  who 
visits  sick  people  to  pray  with  them, 
and  if  he  knew  you  wanted  him,  he 
would  come  to  you."  "Run  for 
him,"  said  the  father.  The  girl 
soon  returned  with  one  of  her 
teachers,  who  read  and  explained,  as 
simply  as  possible,  some  of  the  most 
suitable  parts  of  the  Xew  Testament ; 
and,  by  his  frequent  visits,  he  was 
the  means  of  showing  him  clearly  the 
way  of  salvation  by  the  Lord  Jesus. 
The  man  died,  giving  satisfactory 
evidence  of  his  faith  in  the  Son  of 
God. 

1068.  An  Infidel  lather.— A  man, 
who  was  once  a  decided  infidel,  said 
he  desired  to  bless  God  for  Sunday- 
schools.  They  had  been,  he  ob- 
served, the  means  of  saving  his  soul. 
His  brother-in-law  and  sister  had, 
with  much  entreaty,  persuaded  him 
to  send  his  little  boy  to  the  Sunday- 
school.  The  child  had  often  heard 
the  superintendents  enforce  the  duty 
and  importance  of  prayer,  to  which 
he  had  listened  attentively.  One 
Sunday  morning,  while  his  mother 
was  di'essing  his  little  brother,  this 
boy  was  missing,  and  on  inquiring  of 
him  where  he  had  been,  he  replied 
he  had  been  saying  his  prayers ;  and 
added,  "  Mother,  does  my  father  ever 
pray  ?  "  She  informed  his  father 
what  the  cliild  had  said.  The  father, 
having  lived  in  the  neglect  of  prayer, 
felt  condemned ;  conviction  seized 
his  mind  ;  he  sought  the  Lord,  and 
found  him,  to  the  joy  of  his  soul. 

1069.  A   Prayeiiess    Father.  — 
A  little  boy  said  to  his  parents,  "Our 


teachers  pray  for  us,  but  I  never 
hear  my  father  pray."  This  remark, 
tlu'ough  the  influence  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,pierced  the  heart  of  the  father, 
so  that  his  mind  was  conducted  into 
a  train  of  serious  reflections  by 
the  thought  of  his  child  rising  up 
in  judgment  against  him  if  he  died 
in  his  sins  ;  from  that  time  the  father 
became  a  man  of  prayer,  and,  there 
is  reason  to  hope,  a  subject  of  Divine 
grace.  He  became  also  a  teacher  in 
the  adult  school,  and  his  conduct 
adorned  the  Gospel. 

1070.  A  Widow  Oomforted.— 
At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Sun- 
day-school Society,  in  1830,  the  Rev. 
C.  Day  stated,  that,  in  a  Sunday- 
school  under  his  care,  it  was  a  sub- 
ject of  regret  to  him,  that  the 
superintendent,  a  poor  widow,  was 
incompetent  to  fill  that  situation ; 
he  was,  in  consequence,  obliged  to 
remove  her  from  it.  Some  time 
after,  he  was  requested  to  call  upon 
her.  He  did  so,  and  found  her  in  a 
very  distressed  state  of  mind,  and 
fully  sensible  of  her  former  neglect 
of  religion.  He  asked  her  how  this 
change  took  place.  "  Oh,  sir,"  she 
replied,  "it  is  entirely  owing  to  my 
dear  child,  who  went  on  her  knees, 
night  and  day,  to  beg  of  me  to  read 
the  Scriptures,  and  strewed  written 
portions  of  the  Bible  about  the  cot- 
tage that  they  might  catch  my 
eye.  I  scolded  her  ;  but  the  more  I 
scolded,  the  more  she  persevered." 
In  short,  she  returned  to  superintend 
the  school,  being  brought  to  a 
knowledge  of  the  truth  by  the  in- 
strumentality of  her  own  child. 

1071.  A  Family  Eeformed.— 
A  young  woman,  who  was  one  of  the 
first  scholars  in  a  Sunday-school  at 
Chepstow,  left  the  school  and  went 
to  service.  She  engaged  at  a  shop- 
keeper's, where  they  kept  shop  open  on 
Sundays ;  she  saw  the  impropriety  of 


416 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WORLD. 


such  conduct,  and  gave  notice  to 
leave  the  place.  Her  master  and 
mistress,  finding  her  a  faithful  and 
honest  servant,  did  not  wish  to  part 
with  her,  but  she  would  not  continue 
unless  they  shut  up  their  shop  on  the 
Sabbath ;  and  more  than  this,  she 
requested  to  have  family  prayer 
constantly,  which  she  conducted  her- 
self. The  happy  result  was  wit- 
nessed; and  although  there  was 
much  persecution  for  not  selling  as 
usual,  yet  the  shop  was  closed  on  the 
Sabbath,  the  house  of  God  attended, 
and  the  mistress  and  servant  openly 
professed  Christianity. 


SABBATH  -  KEEPINa    PEO- 
MOTED. 

1072.  The  Sabbath  and  the 
Sunday- School. — The  Sabbath  is 
justly  regarded  as  one  of  the  strongest 
bulwarks  of  our  free  institutions ;  but 
the  question  of  whether  it  shall  be 
hallowed  to  such  ends,  or  perverted 
to  become  the  most  mischief  and 
corruption-breeding  of  all  the  days 
of  the  year,  will,  in  many  communi- 
ties, be  reduced  to  the  simple  ques- 
tion as  to  whether  an  efficient 
Sunday-school  shall  be  sustained  or 
not  in  these  communities.  Where 
no  single  denomination  of  Christians 
is  strong  enough  to  sustain  the  insti- 
tution of  the  Gospel,  this  becomes 
the  only  practical  means,  not  only 
for  regular  public,  moral,  and  re- 
ligious culture,  but  is  the  only  way 
for  any  public  recognition  of  the 
claims  of  the  Sabbath  and  the  claims 
of  our  higher  nature. — House. 

1073.  Children  taught  to  love 
the  Sabbath. — The  affections  of  chil- 
dren are  equally  gathered  around  the 
Sabbath,  the  Church,  the  Word  of 
God,  and  the  pastor  also,  if  he  sin- 


cerely throw  himself  into  the  work, 
and  minister  to  its  prosperity.  The 
Sabbath,  no  longer  a  weariness,  be- 
comes to  the  mind  of  youth  the  most 
attractive  of  all  days.  It  is  a  day  of 
enjoyment  and  pleasure.  "  Oh,  how 
I  love  to  have  the  Sabbath  come!" 
said  a  plain  little  child  to  me,  *'  it  is 
so  pleasant^, — and  I  love  my  school 
so  much."  "The  happiest  hours  of 
my  whole  work  to  me,  are  those  I 
spend  in  the  Sunday-school,"  said 
another  of  an  elder  class.  What 
scores  of  little  ones  have  I  known 
coming  in  the  cold  winter  mornings, 
with  no  breakfast,  because  their  fa- 
milies were  not  up,  and  they  could 
not  be  satisfied  to  wait  and  lose  their 
school.  "  How  came  you  here  so 
soon  ?"  said  I  to  two  little  girls  of  a 
rich  and  self-indulgent  household, 
who  on  a  winter's  morning  had  come 
a  great  distance,  and  were  the  first 
in  the  room.  "Oh,  we  love  to  come, 
and  we  got  up  very  early,  and  came 
without  our  breakfast,  that  we  might 
not  be  late."  "  Freddy,"  said  I,  to  a 
little  boy,  "have  you  had  your  break- 
fast to-day?"  "No,  sir,  but  I  do 
not  mind  that ;  I  had  much  rather 
be  at  school."  Now  I  say  it  is  all 
but  an  infinite  blessing  thus  to  at- 
tract the  youthful  affections  around 
the  Sabbath  and  the  study  of  the 
Word  of  God.  Public  worship  and 
the  privileges  connected  with  the 
sanctuary  are  thus  imbedded  in  the 
youthful  habits  and  tastes. — Tyjig. 

1074.  God  sees  it.— A  little  boy, 
belonging  to  a  Sabbath-school,  was 
taken  by  an  uncle  and  some  others 
to  walk,  after  the  school  was  over. 
The  uncle,  who  was  a  careless,  wicked 
man,  was  anxious  to  buy  something 
for  the  child ;  but  little  William  knew 
it  was  the  Sabbath,  and  he  had  been 
told  how  improper  it  was  to  buy  or 
sell  on  the  Sabbath-day.  "  Come, 
Billy,"  said  he,  "  I'll  buy  thee  some- 
thing ;  some  apples,  or  fruit  of  some 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL    WORLD. 


417 


kind :  Aunt  Mary's  not  liere,  and 
she  '11  not  know  anj'tMng  about  it." 
''  Ah !  but,  uncle,"  said  the  boy,  "  if 
Aunt  Mary  does  not  see  it,  God  sees 
it,  and  it's  very  wicked." 

1075.  A  Young  Martyr. — A  ne- 
gro boy  ran  away  from  a  Sunday- 
school  to  which  he  belonged,  on  ac- 
count of  a  quarrel  with  another  boy. 
On  the  evening  of  the  third  day, 
however,  he  came  back,  and  begged 
to  be  forgiven.  Being  asked  what 
brought  him  back,  he  replied,  ' '  Mas- 
sa,  that  school  fetch  me.  Suppose 
me  go  to  school  no  more,  that  make 
me  afraid :  me  know  nothing  if  me 
go  no  school."  Being  told  he  might 
seek  another  school,  his  reply  was, 
*'  Massa,  me  can't  leave  this.  S'pose, 
massa,  you  whip  me,  put  me  in  black 
hole ;  that  right,  massa ;  do  me  good : 
me  run  away  for  nothing !  but  me 
can't  leave  dis  school  here." 

1076.  A  Child's  Answer.— When 
a  little  girl  was  expostulated  with 
for  attending  a  Sunday-school,  she 
immediately  replied,  in  the  words  of 
Dr.  Watts— 

"  I  have  been  there,  and  still  would  go, 
'Tis  like  a  little  heaven  below." 

1077.  Difficulties  Overcome. — 
An  American  Sunday-school  teacher, 
living  at  some  distance  from  the 
school,  started  one  Sabbath  to  go 
thither,  but  finding  the  weather  cold, 
and  the  snow  much  banked  up,  he 
thought  it  best  not  to  proceed ;  he 
therefore  determined  to  stop  and  see 
how  a  very  poor  family  was,  whose 
children  belonged  to  his  class.  On 
entering,  he  found  one  of  the  boys 
preparing  for  school,  who  had  neither 
shoe  nor  stocking  to  put  on,  but  as  a 
substitute  was  sewing  old  rags  on  his 
feet,  intending  then  to  make  his  way 
through  the  snow  to  school,  a  dis- 
tance of  nearly  two  miles.  This  boy 
did  not  know  his  letters  when  he  en- 
tered the  school ;  now  he  had  bought 


himself  a  Testament,  and  could  read 
in  it.  May  not  the  conduct  of  this 
child  shame  many  children  who  are 
so  ready  to  find  an  excuse  to  absent 
themselves  from  school  ?  And  should 
it  not  also  be  told  to  those  parents 
who  are  so  apt  to  plead  the  want  of 
fit  clothes  as  a  reason  for  keeping 
their  children  from  school,  to  put 
them  to  the  blush  ? 

1078.  A  Boy's  Keproof.— A  little 
boy,  not  quite  six  years  of  age,  as  he 
was  going  to  a  Sunday-school,  at 
Leek,  in  Stafibrdshire,  saw  some  boys 
who  were  breaking  the  Sabbath.  He 
had  been  taught  to  love  those  around 
him,  and  to  care  for  their  souls :  he 
therefore  went  up  to  them,  and  said, 
' '  Lads,  you  are  sinning — I  tell  you, 
you  are  sinning." 


1079. 


A  few  years  since,  in 


the  island  of  Jamaica,  a  child  who 
had  been  educated  in  a  Sunday- 
school  happened  to  see  a  negro 
mending  his  net  upon  the  Sabbath- 
day.  The  child  immediately  went 
up  to  him,  and  said,  "Do  you  not 
know,  that  it  is  written  in  the  Word 
of  God,  '  Thou  shalt  remember  to 
keep  holy  the  Sabbath-day  ?  " '  "Now, 
massa,"  replied  the  negro,  "if  you 
bring  de  Word  of  God,  and  read  dat 
passage,  I  no  mend  my  net  on  Sun- 
day any  more."  The  child  brought 
the  Bible,  and  read  it :  the  negro 
laid  aside  his  net,  and  going  home  to 
his  wife,  said,  "Oh!  me  never  see 
such  a  picaninny  [child]  as  dat ;  him 
tell  me  all  about  the  Word  of  God ! 
I  never  can  work  upon  the  Sabbath 
again." 

1080.  Turning  over  a  New  Leaf. 
— "Mother,"  said  a  little-girl,  as 
she  came  in  from  a  Sunday-school, 
' '  I  am  going  to  turn  over  a  new 
leaf."  "Are  your"  asked  the 
mother  ;  ' '  what  are  you  going  to 
do  then?"  "I  am  going  to  leave 
off  spending  money  on   a   Sunday, 


418 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WORLD. 


mother."  ''  What  for  ?  "  inquired  the 
mother.  *'  Because  it  is  a  sin  against 
God,  and  he  will  be  very  angry  with 
me  if  I  break  the  Sabbath ;  for  you 
know,  mother,  he  has  told  us  in  the 
Bible  to  '  Eemember  the  Sabbath- 
day,  to  keep  it  holy.'  " 

1081.  A  Shop  Closed. — A  little 
boy,  belonging  to  a  Sabbath-school 
in  London,  having  occasion  everj^ 
Sunday  to  go  through  a  certain  court, 
observed  a  shop  always  open  for  the 
sale  of  goods.  Having  been  taught 
the  duty  of  sanctifying  the  Lord's- 
day,  he  was  grieved  at  its  profana- 
tion, and  for  some  time  seriously 
considered  if  it  was  possible  for  him 
to  do  anything  to  prevent  it.  At 
length  he  determined  on  leaving  a 
tract,  "  Ox  THE  Loed's-dat,"  as  he 
passed  by.  On  the  next  Sabbath, 
coming  the  same  way,  he  observed 
that  the  shop  was  shut  up.  He 
stopped,  and  pondered  whether  this 
could  be  the  effect  of  the  tract  he 
had  left.  He  ventured  to  knock 
gently  at  the  door ;  when  a  woman 
within,  thinking  it  was  a  customer, 
answered  aloud,  "You  cannot  have 
anything ;  we  don't  sell  on  the  Sun- 
day." The  little  boy  still  begged 
for  admittance,  encouraged  by  what 
he  had  heard,  when  the  woman,  re- 
collecting his  voice,  opened  the  door, 
and  said,  "Come  in,  my  dear  little 
fellow :  it  was  you  who  left  the  tract 
here  last  Sunday  against  Sabbath- 
breaking,  and  it  frightened  me  so, 
that  I  did  not  dare  to  keep  my  shop 
open  any  longer,  and  I  am  deter- 
mined never  to  do  so  again  while  I 
live." 

1082.  I  can't  Work  on  Sunday. 
— "  I  have  lately  observed,"  says  a 
female  teacher  at  Bristol,  "  in  one  of 
my  girls  whom  I  conceived  particu- 
larly hardened,  a  reverence  for  the 
Sabbath.  Having  occasion  to  go 
into  the  room  where  the  girl  was,  I 


perceived  she  had  been  crying:  on 
inquiring  into  the  cause,  she  told 
me  that  her  mother  had  desired  her 
to  finish  making  an  article  of  dress, 
designed  for  a  younger  sister  to  wear 
that  day,  but  that  her  conscience 
had  forbidden  obedience.  '  I  have 
been  taught  at  school,'  said  she, 
'  to  keep  holy  the  Sabbath-day — in 
it  to  do  no  manner  of  work  ;  and  I 
cannot  do  it.'  She  again  burst  into 
tears,  and  added,  '  If  my  mother 
had  been  at  your  school,  she  would 
have  known  better  than  to  have 
asked  me.'  " 


TEAOHEES  BENEFITED  BY 
THEIR  WOEE. 

1083.  Training  for  a  Higher 
Service. — The  Church  is  a  kind  of 
normal  school.  Christ  is  here  train- 
ing His  disciples  for  that  better  and 
higher  service  expected  of  them  in 
the  world  to  come.  One  of  the 
essential  conditions  of  a  normal 
school  is,  that  there  should  be  con- 
nected with  it  a  school  of  practice, 
where  those  in  the  normal  school, 
while  receiving  lessons  in  the  theory 
of  their  art,  may  go  in  and  try  their 
hand  by  actual  experiment.  So  is 
it  in  the  church.  The  Master  there 
teaches  to  His  disciples  the  lessons  of 
the  kingdom.  They  there  learn  the 
theory  of  the  heavenly  graces.  But 
He  has  also  His  School  of  Practice, 
in  which  they  become  rapidly  pro- 
ficient in  His  lessons,  and  that  is  by 
the  religious  training  and  instruc- 
tion of  the  little  ones.  If  such  a 
thing  could  be  supposed,  as  that  the 
Sabbath-school  was  of  no  benefit 
whatever  to  the  children,  yet  such 
are  the  extent  and  variety  of  the 
reflex  blessings  which  it  brings  upon 
the  teachers,  that  it  would  still  be 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WORLD. 


419 


worth,  all  the  labour  and  money  it 
costs. — Dr.  Hart. 

1084.  Knowledge  obtained  by 
Teaching. — Besides  this,  there  is 
something  in  the  very  act  of  teach- 
ing that  gives  force  to  the  argument. 
It  is  a  noticeable  peculiarity  of  the 
human  mind,  that  a  man's  know- 
ledge is  made  more  certain  and  de- 
finite to  himself  by  the  act  of  com- 
municating it  to  another.  A  man, 
indeed,  can  hardly  be  said  to  know 
a  thing  himself  until  he  has  told  it 
to  somebody  else,  or  has  in  some 
way,  by  tongue  or  pen,  given  ex- 
pression to  it.  Teaching,  we  learn. 
By  communicating  to  others  what 
we  have  learned  of  Holy  Scripture, 
we  clinch  the  knowledge  in  our  own 
mind.  By  imparting  it,  we  only 
make  it  the  more  inalienably  our 
own.  Hence  the  true  teacher  is 
always  a  learner.  There  is  pro- 
bably no  part  of  a  pastor's  charge, 
of  which  he  feels  so  sure  that  they 
are  advancing  in  knowledge,  as  his 
corps  of  faithful  Sabbath  -  school 
teachers. — Dr.  Hart. 

1085.  This  Work  leads  to  Oon- 
version. — It  is  a  fact  of  continual 
occurrence,  that  persons  are  con- 
verted while  engaged  in  the  work 
of  Sabbath-school  teaching.  While 
so  engaged,  they  are  necessarily 
brought  into  close  quarters  with 
Gospel  truth.  They  no  longer  at- 
tend to  religion  in  that  sort  of  pas- 
sive way  which  characterises  most 
church-goers.  They  are  obliged  to 
become  active  in  their  habits  of  at- 
tention to  divine  things.  While 
communicating  Scripture  knowledge 
to  others,  their  own  conscience  is 
very  apt  to  be  pricked.  They  are, 
moreover,  brought  into  habits  of  in- 
timacy with  some  of  the  most  godly 
persons  in  the  congregation.  Be- 
sides this,  there  is  something  con- 
tagious in  the  eager  response  which 


childhood  so  often  gives  to  the  claims 
of  religion ;  and  a  man  while  sitting 
before  a  class  of  bright  eyes  and 
warm  hearts,  sometimes  finds  his 
own  soul  opening,  before  he  is  aware 
of  it,  to  the  genial  influences  of  the 
Gospel  which  he  is  teaching.  It  is, 
therefore,  not  to  be  wondered  at  that 
so  many  persons  are  brought  into 
the  kingdom  from  the  corps  of  Sab- 
bath-school teachers.  It  would  be 
a  most  strange  thing  if  such  were 
not  the  case. — Dr.  Hart. 

1086.  This  Work  tends  to 
Deepen  Piety.  —  Not  only  does 
service  in  the  Sabbath- school  im- 
prove the  Scriptural  knowledge,  and 
increase  the  piety  of  those  who  are 
truly  pious,  but  it  leads  often  to  the 
conversion  of  those  who  engage  in  it 
while  unconverted.  Thousands  upon 
thousands  of  unconverted  teachers 
are  annually  brought  into  the  king- 
dom. The  serious  character  of  the 
truths  which  they  have  to  deal  with 
in  the  lessons  of  the  class,  gradually 
affects  their  own  minds.  They  are 
led  almost  inevitably  to  reflect  upon 
the  importance  of  being  able  to  speak 
on  these  topics  from  their  own  ex- 
perience. They  can  hardly  help 
thinking  how  sad  it  would  be  if  the 
children  of  their  charge  should  be 
saved,  while  they  themselves  be- 
come ^'  castaway."  Often,  under 
the  teaching  of  a  sober-minded  but 
unconverted  person,  children  are 
awakened,  and  begin  to  inquire  of 
their  teacher,  with  tears  in  their 
eyes,  what  must  they  do  to  be  saved. 
Such  inquiiies,  from  these  young 
and  tender  minds,  send  conviction 
to  the  conscience  of  the  teacher,  and 
lead  him  to  bring  home  the  ques- 
tion to  his  own  soul.  I  once  knew 
a  large  school,  in  which,  at  its  open- 
ing, a  sufficient  number  of  teachers 
who  were  members  of  the  church 
could  not  be  obtained.  During  the 
first  year,  some  eighteen  or  twenty 


420 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WORLD. 


of  tlie  teachers  were  "imconverted 
persons.  Before  the  end  of  two 
years,  every  one  of  these  teachers 
was  converted  and  brought  into  the 
Church.  I  have  never  been  con- 
nected with  any  Sabbath- school,  for 
any  length  of  time,  in  which  some 
persons  were  not  converted  while 
engaged  in  teaching.  While  water- 
ing others,  they  have  themselves 
been  watered. — Dr.  Hart. 

1087.  Improvement  in  Bible 
Knowledge. — Think,  in  the  first 
place,  how  rapidly  Sabbath- school 
teachers  improve  in  Scriptural 
knowledge.  All  Christians  are  sup- 
posed to  study  the  Scriptures,  and  to 
l3e  growing  in  knowledge.  It  is  un- 
doubtedly the  duty  of  all  Christians 
thus  to  add  continually  to  their- 
knowledge  of  Divine  truth.  But 
human  nature  is  frail  at  its  best 
estate.  "We  may  read  the  Bible, 
and  read  it  statedly  and  attentively ; 
but  that  is  quite  a  different  thing 
from  studying  it.  It  is  rarely  in- 
deed that  people  study  the  Bible,  or 
study  anything,  unless  for  some  spe- 
cific purpose.  The  teacher,  who  has 
a  class  in  the  Sabbath- school  depen- 
dent on  him  for  instruction,  has  just 
such  a  motive,  statedly  recurring. 
He  has  every  week  to  make  himself 
master  of  some  particular  portion  of 
Scriptural  truth.  He  must  not  only 
acquire  it,  but  must  make  his  know- 
ledge of  it  so  definite  and  precise, 
that  he  may  communicate  it  intelli- 
gently to  others.  Hence  no  class  of 
Chi'istians  give  to  the  Bible  so  much 
real  study,  none  study  it  so  statedly 
and  systematically,  none  grow  so 
continually  and  healthily  in  Bible 
knowledge,  as  Sabbath  -  school 
teachers. — Dr.  Hart. 

1088.  E.  Eaikes,  Esq.— It  is 
stated,  in  the  memoirs  of  the  late 
Rev.  Thomas  English,  of  Wobiu-n, 
that  the   mind   of  Mr.    Ilaikes  was 


savingly  impressed  by  reading  the 
53rd  chapter  of  Isaiah  to  one  of  his 
Sunday-school  children. 

1089.  Teachers  added  to  the 
Church.— In  the  state  of  Massa- 
chusets,  it  was  reported,  in  the  year 
1833,  at  a  public  meeting  for  the 
promotion  of  Sunday-schools,  that 
out  of  3,000  teachers  in  that  state, 
394  had,  during  the  j^'ear,  united 
with  Christian  churches,  in  connec- 
tion with  1,549  scholars. 


1090. 


At  the  annual  meet- 


ing of  the  Sunday-school  Union,  in 
London,  in  1830,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Milnor, 
of  New  York,  informed  the  assembly 
that,  in  five  years,  no  less  than 
9,758  Sundaj^- school  teachers  and 
scholars  had  made  a  profession  of 
religion  in  that  country.  How  happy 
are  those  who  improve  their  religious 
advantages  to  their  own  profit  and 
the  glorj'  of  God ! 

1091.  At  a  quarterly  meet- 
ing of  the  Sunday-school  Union,  in 
1820,  a  paper  was  handed  up  to  the 
chairman,  stating  that  one  superin- 
tendent in  Southwark,  in  fifteen 
years,  had  recommended  one  hundi'ed 
and  fifty  persons  as  church  members 
from  Sunday-schools,  many  of  whom 
had  been  scholars  and  others  teachers. 

1092.  The  late  Rev.  John 


Grifiin,  of  Portsea,  when  speaking 
at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Sun- 
day-school Union,  in  the  year  1813, 
stated  that  he  had  recently  received 
into  Christian  communion  three  per- 
sons, who  professed  their  conversion 
to  have  resulted  from  their  being 
Sunday-school  teachers.  One  of 
these,  whom  he  visited  on  his  death- 
bed, said,  "Sir,  I  have  reason  to 
bless  God,  and  shall  through  eter- 
nity, that  I  was  employed  as  a  Sun- 
day-school teacher.  1  was  moral, 
but  not  religious.  I  was  consistent 
in  my  outward  deportmept,  but  I 
had  not  learned  the  way  of  accept- 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WORLD. 


421 


ance  with  God.  I  have  since  learned 
it ;  and  I  liope  I  am  dying  in  the 
peace  of  the  Grospel,  and  in  that 
hope  which  it  inspires." 

1093.  The  Hampshire  San- 
day-school  Union  Report  of  the  year 
1824  stated,  that  in  the  Abbey 
school,  Romsey,  were  eleven  female 
teachers,  nine  of  whom  had  been 
themselves  pupils,  and  of  these  seven 
had  been  admitted  members  of  the 
Church. 

1094,  It  has  been  reported 

to  the  American  Sunday  -  school 
Union,  that  not  less  than  20,000 
teachers  and  30,000  scholars  have 
united  themselves  with  churches  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  in  that  country. 


1095. 


The  Newcastle  -  on  • 


Tyne  Sunday-school  Union,  in  the 
Report  of  1832,  stated,  that  of  2,826 
teachers  then  labouring  in  that  dis- 
trict, 1,536  were  once  scholars  in  the 
schools. 


1096. 


The      !N"ottino:ham 


Union,  of  the  year  1824,  stated,  that 
during  the  preceding  twelve  months, 
not  less  than  one  hundred  and 
thirty-one  young  persons  connected 
with  the  various  schools  as  teachers, 
or  senior  scholars,  had  been  received 
into  Church  fellowship. 


1097. 


The    Kidderminster 


Union  Report,  of  the  year  1824, 
stated,  that  full  thirty  of  their 
teachers  had  been  scholars  in  the 
schools. 


HAPPY    DEATHS    OF 
SCHOLARS. 

1098.  Lift  me  higher. — A  giii, 
thirteen  years  old,  was  dying. 
Lifting  her  eyes  towards  the  ceiling, 
she  said  softly,  "  Lift  me  higher,  lift 
me  higher  !  "     Her  parents  raised 


her  up  with  pillows ;  but  she  faintly 
said,  "No,  not  that,  but  there!" 
again  looking  earnestly  toward 
heaven,  whither  her  happy  soul  flew, 
a  few  moments  later.  On  her 
gravestone  these  words  are  now 
carved : — 

"  Jane  B.,  aged  13.  Lifted  higher.''' 
A  beautiful  idea  of  dying,  was  it 
not  ? — Lifted  higher !  Another  little 
girl,  gasping  for  last  mortal  breath, 
said,  "Father,  take  me!"  Her 
father,  who  sat  dissolved  in  tears  by 
her  bedside,  lifted  her  into  his  lap. 
She  smiled,  thanked  him,  and  said, 
"I  spoke  to  my  Heavenly  Father," 
and  died. 

1099.  The  Little  Girl  in  Meath 
Hospital. — "  About  January,  1834," 
writes  a  gentleman  in  an  Irish  peri- 
odical, "  I  visited  a  female  ward  in 
Meath  Hospital.  A  little  girl  who 
was  there,  aged  ten  years,  asked  me 
to  read  the  conversation  that  took 
place  between  our  blessed  Lord  and 
Nicodemus,  when  Jesus  said,  that  we 
must  be  born  again  before  we  can 
enter  the  kingdom  of  Grod.  I  was 
much  struck  at  hearing  her  weak 
voice,  asking  me  to  read  such  an 
important  passage  of  God's  Word. 
I  then  inquired,  what  she  understood 
by  being  born  again.  '  Sir,'  said 
she,  '  it  is  to  get  a  new  heart.' 
'  And  who,  my  child,  can  give  you 
the  new  heart  ?  Is  it  man  ? ' 
'  ^o:  '  Is  it  angels  ? '  *  No ;  it  is 
the  Spirit  of  God  only  that  can  give 
it,'  replied  she.  *  Now,  my  child,' 
asked  I,  '  are  you  afraid  of  death  ? ' 
'  Oh  no,'  she  replied.  '  Why  ? ' 
'  The  blood  of  Christ  takes  the  fear 
of  death  from  me.'  '  And  do  you 
think  you  will  go  to  heaven  when 
you  die  ? '  'I  do,'  said  she.  '  And 
what  gives  you  reason  to  believe 
that  ?  '  'I  am  a  sinner,'  said  she  ; 
'  and  Jesus  came  and  died  on  the 
cross  to  save  me,  and  I  believe  He  is 
my  Saviour,  and  that  His  blood  can 


422 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WOELD. 


cleanse  me  from  all  my  sin.' 
'  Surely,'  said  I,  '  you  are  not  such  a 
great  sinner  as  these  aged  people 
around  you  ? '  'I  am,'  she  replied  ; 
"but  no  matter  for  that;  for  if  I 
had  never  committed  a  sin,  I 
brought  a  sinful  nature  into  the 
world,  and  that  must  be  cleansed.' 
She  had  humbling  views  of  herself, 
but  exalted  ones  of  the  Redeemer. 
She  was  content  to  be  nothing,  that 
Jesus  might  be  all  in  all.  When 
asking  her  how  she  came  to  know 
such  blessed  truths,  she  replied, 
'  Sir,  in  a  Sabbath-school,  from  my 
teacher.'  The  following  Wednes- 
day, when  I  called,  she  was  gone  to 
be  with  Christ,  which  is  far  better  ; 
and  nothing  but  the  earthly  house  of 
her  tabernacle  was  to  be  seen  when 
I  entered  the  ward." 

1100.  The  Dying  Mission  Scholar. 
— An  Irish  boy,  a  member  of  a  New 
York  mission  school,  was  caught  in 
the  machinery  of  a  factory,  and  in 
an  instant  had  both  legs  broken.  He 
was  carried  to  the  hospital.  It  was 
not  needed  that  anybody  should  tell 
him  how  badly  he  was  hurt ;  he 
knew  he  must  die.  He  sent  for  his 
teacher,  and  unburdened  his  heart. 
He  had  for  months  loved  the  Saviour, 
and  had  loved  to  sing  His  praise, 
though  he  had  never  had  the  courage 
before  to  tell  any  one  but  his  mother, 
and  now  he  wanted  to  sing — 
"  There  is  a  fountain  filled  with  blood." 
Teacher  and  pupil  sang  it  together^ 
talking  between  the  verses  of  Jesus, 
His  suifering  and  dying  for  men,  &c., 
till  the  last  verse  was  reached — 

"  Then  in  a  nobler,  sweeter  song, 
I'll  sing  Thy  power  to  save, 
When  this  poor  lisping,  stammering 
tongue 
Lies  silent  in  the  grave ; " 

which  the  teacher  finislied  alone — 
the  boy  was  dead  !  Of  what  comfort 
and  sustaining  power  the  hymns 
heard  and  learned  in  Sunday-school 


are   to   thousands   of    weary  hearts 
eternity  only  can  reveal. — House. 

1101.  John  Haywood.  —  John 
Haywood,  a  poor  boy,  belonging  to 
a  Simday-school  at  Poplar,  near 
London,  by  the  blessing  of  God  on 
the  labours  of  his  teachers,  became 
decidedly  serious.  His  employment, 
on  the  week-days,  was  in  the  rigging- 
house  connected  with  the  docks  in 
that  vicinity.  Not  having  the  means 
of  purchasing  a  Bible,  he  became 
very  uneasy,  tiU  one  clay  he  heard 
a  boy,  who  was  at  work  with  him,  say 
that  he  had  a  Bible  to  sell.  John 
immediately  entered  into  an  engage- 
ment with  him  to  give  him  his  dinner 
for  one  week,  in  exchange  for  his 
Bible,  which  was  joyfully  received 
by  him.  About  twelve  months  after 
this  transaction,  John  died,  happy  in 
the  enjoyment  of  the  grace  of  God. 

1102.  American  Scholar. — Alittle 
boy,  in  America,  was  some  time  ago 
taken  ill,  and,  being  near  death,  he 
addressed  his  mother  on  the  pri\dleges 
he  had  enjoyed  in  his  Sunday-school, 
which  had  led  to  his  conversion  to 
God.  She  had  never  attended  to  the 
salvation  of  her  own  soul;  nor  had 
she  been  concerned  for  his  spiiitual 
interests.  As  she  smoothed  his  dying 
pillow,  he  said,  "Oh,  mother,  you 
never  taught  me  anything  about 
Jesus ;  and  had  it  not  been  for  the 
Sabbath-school  teachers,  1  should 
now  be  dying  without  a  hope  in  Him, 
and  must  have  been  lost  for  ever! " 
What  a  lesson  to  ungodly  mothers ! 

1103.  The  Sheffield  Scholars.— 
We  have  hitherto  (say  the  Committee 
of  the  Sheffield  Sunday-school  Union, 
in  1813),  during  past  years,  forborne 
to  transcribe  into  our  communications 
any  of  the  interesting  anecdotes 
which  are  to  be  found  in  our  annual 
Reports  ;  we  may,  however,  be 
permitted  to  observe,  that  one  of 
the     most    interesting     sources    of 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WORLD. 


423 


delight  opened  by  oiu'  Union  lias 
been  the  publication  of  numerous 
and  gratifying  testimonies  of  useful- 
ness furnished  by  the  different  schools. 
During  the  eleven  years  past,  our 
Reports  have  recorded  at  least  one 
hundred  and  sixty  anecdotes  of  use- 
fulness, including  upwards  of  seventy 
obituaries  of  scholars  who  have  died, 
leaving  a  testimony  behind  them 
that  they  had  profited  by  the  in- 
structions which  they  had  received, 
and  the  assurance  of  hope  in  their 
end.  It  is  true,  these  consist  in 
general  of  brief  notices  of  the  simple 
hopes,  experience,  and  expressions  of 
little  children,  and  wliich,  to  the 
worldly  wise  and  great,  may  appear 
uninteresting,  if  not  despicable.  If 
they  should  revile,  let  us  imitate  the 
example  of  the  Saviour,  when,  in  the 
presence  of  the  despisers  of  His  day. 
He  called  a  little  child  imto  Him, 
and  set  him  in  the  midst  of  them, 
and  said,  "  Yerily  I  say  unto  you, 
except  ye  be  converted,  and  become 
as  little  children,  ye  shall  not  enter 
into  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 

1104.  James  Green. — The  fol- 
lowing brief  account  of  James  Grreen, 
one  of  the  children  of  a  school  at 
Hull,  who  died  on  the  29th  of  Sep- 
tember, 1826,  aged  only  seven  years 
and  a  half,  forcibly  proves  the  opera- 
tions of  Divine  grace  at  a  very  early 
stage  of  life.  This  little  boy  entered 
the  school  at  the  age  of  six  years, 
and  attended  vnih  great  punctuality 
until  a  few  days  before  his  death. 
Such  was  his  delight  there,  that,  in 
order  to  be  present  at  the  proper 
time,  he  has  repeatedly  left  home 
"without  breakfast,  although  it  has 
at  the  time  been  upon  the  table. 
His  illness  was  only  of  a  few  days' 
continuance ;  but  in  that  time  he 
was  able  greatly  to  rejoice  in  the 
love  of  the  Saviour,  who  said, 
"  Suffer  little  children  to  come  unto 
Me,    and   forbid  them   not ;    for   of 


such  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 
The  day  preceding  his  death,  being 
under  severe  suffering,  and  observing 
his  mother  at  his  bedside,  weeping, 
he  energetically  said,  "Don't  weep, 
mother.  Oh,  how  I  like  it ;  Jesus 
is  waiting  for  me  ! "  Thus  his  happy 
spirit  took  its  triumphant  flight  to 
the  abode  of  the  blessed,  where  the 
Lord  God  will  mpe  away  tears  from 
off"  all  faces. 

1105;  James  Brown,  — James 
Brown,  a  little  boy  belonging  to  the 
High  Felling  Sunday-school,  near 
Newcastle,  met  his  death  by  an  ac- 
cident in  the  coal-pit.  When  asked 
by  his  teacher  if  he  thought  he 
should  die,  he  replied,  "  Yes." 
"  And  where  do  you  hope  to  go  to  ?" 
"  To  heaven,"  was  his  answer. 
"And  why?"  Here  he  called  his 
mother,  and  the  rest  of  the  family, 
and  said,  "I  love  you,  mother;  and 
you,  father  ;  and  my  brothers  and 
sisters,  and  my  teacher ;  but  I  love 
Jesus  Christ  above  all;  and  I  am 
going  to  heaven,  that  beautiful 
place."  Here  he  ceased,  his  voice 
failed,  and  his  happ}'  spirit  took  its 
flight  to  the  realms  of  eternal  bliss. 

1106.  A  Oolhery  Boy.— On  May 
3,  1815,  an  accident  occurred  at  the 
Heaton  Main  CoUiery,  near  New- 
castle-on-Tyne.  The  water  broke 
in  upon  the  working,  endangering 
the  lives  of  the  whole  of  the  workers. 
Some  escaped,  but  though  great  ex- 
ertions were  made,  nine  months 
passed  before  the  bodies  of  the  others 
could  be  reached.  Among  those  who 
perished  were  John  Thew  and  his 
sons  William  and  Thomas.  After 
the'  bodies  were  ^lut  in  cofiins,  the 
relatives  were  permitted  to  go  down 
the  pit  for  the  purpose  of  recognising 
their  husbands  or  children  ;  and 
Elizabeth  Thew  was  among  the  fore- 
most. She  readily  foimd  out  her  son 
William's  body  by  his  fine  auburn 
hair.      What  must  have  been  her 


424 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL  WORLD. 


feelings,  when  in  one  of  his  pockets 
was  found  his  tin  candle  box,  on 
which,  in  the  darkness  of  the  suffo- 
cating pit,  or  with  only  the  dim  light 
of  his  Davy  lamp,  the  dear  boy  had, 
with  a  nail,  engraved  the  following 
touching  words : — 

^^  Fret  not,  dear  mother,  for  we 
were  singing  while  we  had  time,  and 
praising  God.  Mother,  follow  God 
more  than  ever  I  did^ 

And  then  on  the  other  side  were 
found  the  following  words,  which,  it 
is  supposed,  must  have  been  dictated 
by  his  father,  as  it  bears  his  signa- 
ture, though  he  could  not  write : — 

"  If  Johnny  is  saved,  be  a  good  lad 
to  God  and  thy  mother. 

''JOHN  THEW:' 

William  Thew,  the  writer  of  these 
touching  lines,  was  the  second  son 
of  John  and  Elizabeth  Thew,  and 
was  seventeen  years  of  age  at  the 
time  of  the  catastrophe.  A  younger 
brother,  John,  was  one  of  those  who, 
on  the  alarm  of  the  bursting  in  of 
the  water  being  made,  escaped  with 
others  by  the  shaft.  William  and 
John  were  scholars  in  the  Byker 
Sunday-school  at  the  time,  and  were 
steady  and  well-disposed  boys. 
William  met  in  class  among  the 
Wesley  an  Methodists  at  the  time, 
and  attended  an  evening  school, 
where  he  learned  to  write  and  cipher. 
His  mother  relates,  that  her  sons 
were  very  affectionate  and  steady  ; 
that  after  returning  from  their  work, 
and  when  cleaned  and  refreshed  by 
their  meals,  they  were  in  the  habit 
of  reading  the  Bible  to  her,  and 
never  retired  to  rest  without  prayer. 
Many  pleasing  anecdotes  are  related 
by  their  mother,  particularly  of  Wil- 
liam, who  seems  to  have  been  her 
favourite  son.  On  one  occasion  he 
said  to  her,  "Mother,  when  I'm  a 
man,  I'll  work  hard  for  you,  and 
keep  you  like  a  lady." —  Watson. 


1107.  Philadelphia  Scholar. — 
I  was  called  in  Philadelphia  to  visit 
a  sick  girl  in  a  very  worldly  and  ir  - 
religious  household,  with  whom  I 
had  but  little  acquaintance, — and 
went  anticipating  only  a  painful  visit 
of  warning  to  a  careless  soul.  To 
my  astonishment,  I  found  a  gentle 
child  of  grace,  perhaps  eighteen  years 
of  age,  sinking  in  a  consumption, 
but  perfectly  clear  in  mind,  and 
happy  in  hope.  "How,"  I  asked, 
' '  have  you  learned  all  this  in  your 
condition  here?"  Her  answer  was 
most  precious.  "  I  had  a  faithful 
Sunday-school  teacher, — and  though 
I  left  her  some  years  ago,  and  never 
gave  her  much  satisfaction,  yet  when 
I  was  taken  sick,  I  took  my  little 
Bible,  and  went  over  the  lessons  she 
used  to  teach  me, — and  God  has 
taught  me  here  alone."  She  then 
shewed  me  her  little  Bible,  turned 
down  and  marked  with  many  Sun- 
day-school lessons, — her  constant  and 
loved  companion.  Dear  child, — she 
had  no  other  religious  companion. 
But  she  departed  in  sweet  peace  and 
hope, — and  my  visits  to  her,  while 
she  lived,  were  full  of  satisfaction 
and  delight. —  Tyng. 


VAEIOUS    EESULTS. 

1108.  Churches  Originated. — 
Many  churches  have  risen  from  the 
bosom  of  these  mission- schools  in 
the  most  remote  sections  of  our  land. 
A  young  man  of  my  acquaintance,  a 
mere  youth,  was  thrown  into  a  set  - 
tlement  of  the  Far  West,  and  com- 
menced, alone,  a  Sunday-school.  His 
school  gathered  increasing  numbers 
from  the  wilderness  around  him,  till 
parents  and  children  all  collected 
made  the  necessity  for  a  permanent 
house  of  worship.  With  the  utmost 
effort  among  his  friends,  he  gathered 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WORLD. 


425 


means  to  build  his  little  temple  in 
the  woods.  Soon  his  adult  congre- 
gation filled  it  up, — and  one  hundred 
and  forty  children  were  taught  upon 
benches  under  the  trees,  because 
there  was  no  room  for  the  Sunday- 
school  in  the  church.  He  was  soon 
enabled  to  enlarge  his  building,  and 
a  respectable,  orderly,  religious  estab- 
lishment has  grown  out  of  it.  This 
is  but  a  specimen  of  hundreds  of 
similar  history. — Tyng. 

1109.  Eeformation  in  Manners. 
— At  this  time  (1785),  also,  Mr. 
Raikes  communicated  to  Mr.  Fox 
(Deacon  of  Baptist  Church,  in  Pres- 
cott  Street,  London)  the  following 
Interesting  fact : — "  An  attempt  had 
been  made  to  establish  Sunday- 
schools  in  the  Forest  of  Dean  among 
the  children  of  the  colliers,  a  most 
savage  race.  A  person  from  Mitchel 
Dean  called  upon  Raikes  to  report 
the  progress  of  the  undertaking,  and 
observed,  '  We  have  many  children 
who  three  months  ago  knew  not  a 
letter  from  a  cart-wheel,  who  can 
now  repeat  hymns  in  a  manner  that 
would  astonish  you.'  Some  were  so 
much  delighted  with  Dr.  Watts' 
little  hymns  that  thej"  could  repeat 
the  whole  work.  Several  could  read 
in  the  Testament,  and  some  repeated 
whole  chapters.  The  eftect  on  their 
manners  was  equally  pleasing.  At 
the  public  examination,  one  of  the 
conductors  of  the  school  pointed  to  a 
very  ill-looking  lad,  about  thirteen, 
and  said,  '  That  boy  was  the  most 
proiiigate  lad  in  this  neighbourhood. 
He  was  the  leader  of  every  kind  of 
mischief  and  wickedness.  He  never 
opened  his  lips  without  a  profane  or 
indecent  expression :  and  now  he  is 
become  orderly  and  good-natured, 
and  in  his  conversation  has  quite  left 
off  profaneness.'  All  the  children 
conducted  themselves  in  an  orderly 
manner,  and  several  of  them,  amongst 
whom  was  the  boy  just  mentioned, 


joined  in  singing  a  hymn,  to  the 
great  delight  of  their  benefactors. 
These  children  had  no  other  oppor- 
tunities than  what  they  derived  from 
their  Sabbath  instruction."  —  S.  S. 
Jubilee,  1831. 

1110.  A  Class  in  a  Belfry.— 
A  lawyer  in  Philadelphia,  fifteen 
years  ago,  took  a  class  of  boys  who 
very  suddenly  became  young  men, 
and  refused  to  attend  the  school. 
They  formed  themselves  into  a  curb- 
stone or  lamp-post  class,  and  this 
good  man  saw  that  if  they  should 
pass  finally  beyond  the  restraints  of 
the  sanctuary  they  would  go  fast  to 
destruction.  He  did  not  go  to  them 
and  say,  "  Boys,  you  are  disturbing 
the  congregation ;  you  are  a  great 
nuisance,"  and  pass  them  sternly  by. 
No  !  He  said  to  them,  *'  Young 
gentlemen,  would  you  not  like  to 
meet  me  this  afternoon,  and  spend  a 
pleasant  hour  or  so  together  ? " 
"  Yes,  sir."  *'  Where  shall  we  go  ?  " 
They  found  a  room  up  in  the  belfry 
of  the  church.  There  they  met  him 
all  summer  long.  Often  I  have  seen 
them,  teacher  and  all,  with  their 
coats  off,  and  joined  them  in  their 
lusty  choruses  of  praise  when  the 
swift  perspiration  would  pursue  its 
way  down  from  their  brows  in  their 
earnest  interest  and  effort  in  singing 
the  songs  of  Zion.  Only  two  of 
those  more  than  dozen  boys  turned 
out  badly.  The  secret  of  that 
teacher's  success  was  in  his  imder- 
standing  boy  nature,  and  in  his 
making  himself  one  with  them  and 
of  them. — Hev.  Alfred  Taylor. 

1111.  Churches  Fed.— The  late 
excellent  Rev.  T.  Charles,  of  Bala, 
informed  the  general  meeting  of  the 
Sunday-school  Union,  in  1813,  that 
throughout  the  country  in  which  he 
resided  they  received  most  of  the 
members  into  their  churches  from 
Sunday-schools ;  and  that,  during 
the  preceding  year,  nearly  one  hun- 


426 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WOKLD. 


dred  persons  had  been  received  into 
Chi'istian  communion  from  the  Sun- 
day-schools in  the  town  of  Bala. 

1112.  Scholars  become  Teachers. 
— The  Strond  Sunday-school  Union, 
in  1824,  stated,  that  among  the 
encouraging  circumstanceswhich  had 
transpired  during  the  year,  were  the 
accounts  which  had  been  given,  by 
several  schools,  of  persons  acting  as 
teachers,  who  once  were  scholars  in 
the  same  school.  In  the  Stroud's 
Hill  School,  a  young  man  who  was 
formerly  a  scholar,  had  offered  his 
services  as  a  teacher  from  a  sense  of 
gratitude,  stating  that  he  first  felt 
serious  impressions  when  receiving 
instruction  as  a  scholar.  In  the 
Thrup  school,  a  young  woman,  who 
had  been  a  scholar  for  seven  years, 
had  been  appointed  a  teacher.  In 
the  Stroud  New  Chapel  School,  seven 
young  women  were  then  teachers,  of 
steady  and  approved  character,  who 
once  were  scholars. 

1113.  One  Sunday-school. — In  a 
certain  Sunday-school  in  New  Eng- 
land, in  1832,  sixty-one  out  of  fifteen 
classes  of  160  pupils,  under  sixteen 
years  of  age,  became  hopefully  pious. 
In  six  classes,  embracing  seventy- 
one  young  persons  over  sixteen  years 
of  age,  sixty  indulged  hope  that 
they  had  passed  from  death  unto 
life,  making  in  all  121,  who  became 
hopefully  pious,  in  a  school  of  231 
scholars. — D7\  Cheever. 

1114.  A  Pastor's  Testimony. — 
In  the  thirty-one  years  during 
which  I  have  now  been  a  city  pastor, 
and  personally  connected  with  large 
■schools,  I  have  received,  to  the  Lord's 
table,  over  300  youths  of  both  sexes, 
directly  from  the  Sunday-school. 
And  I  have  no  doubt  I  might,  with 
equal  truth,  add  200  more,  uniting 
with  us  from  the  resulting  influence 
of  previous  Sunday-school  instruc- 
tion.—  Tyng. 


1115.  General  Influences. — No 
one  can  tell,  no  finite  mind  can  by 
possibility  conceive,  the  holy  and 
happy  eft'ects  resulting  from  Sunday- 
school  teaching.  Thousands  have 
been  saved  from  a  life  of  sin  and 
misery,  by  endeavouring  to  instruct 
the  young  in  the  truths  of  salvation. 
— Davids. 

1116.  Dr.  Henderson. — It  is  re- 
lated by  this  Dr.  Henderson,  that 
during  his  travels  in  North  Europe, 
he  was  detained  for  a  time  in 
Copenhagen.  While  there,  he  states 
that  he  employed  himself  in  trans- 
lating the  tract  entitled,  ''The 
Great  Question  Answered,"  and  that 
the  circulation  of  this  tract  had  been 
traced  as  the  source  of  all  the  Bible 
Societies  in  Eussia,  Sweden,  and  the 
neighbouring  countries. —  Cheever. 

1117.  Unestimated  Kesults. — 
None  can  estimate  the  benefits  which 
our  youth  has  already  derived  from 
the  duties  of  Sabbath  tuition.  The 
great  majority  of  teachers  have  no- 
thing else  to  call  forth  their  mental 
energies,  or  to  excite  their  minds  to 
action.  Immersed  in  business,  for 
the  most  part,  from  Monday  morning 
till  Saturday  night,  following  a  dull 
routine  of  daily  toil,  nothing  but  the 
Sunday-school  stimulates  their  slug- 
gish mind,  and  rouses  the  dormant 
power  of  thought.  Once  connected 
with  the  Sabbath-school,  a  youth  no 
longer  stands  alone ;  half  the  temp- 
tations to  vice  are  removed  ;  he  as- 
sociates with  his  superiors  in  age,  in 
knowledge,  in  piety ;  he  is  brought 
into  close  contact  with  his  minister  ; 
his  Sabbath  lesson  has  to  be  pre- 
pared, his  absent  scholars  have  to  be 
visited.  The  library  ofiers  a  fund  of 
constant  amusement  and  informa- 
tion ;  whilst  his  evenings,  that  used 
to  be  so  lonely,  spent  in  idleness,  if 
not  in  sin,  have  now  a  halo  of  de- 
light cast  over  them  ;  and  expecta- 
tion of  the  happy  closing  hour  en- 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WORLD. 


427 


livens  the  dull  labour  of  the  day.— 
Davids. 

1118.  A.  Soldier's  Teacher.— At 
the  annual  meeting  of  the  Sundaj^- 
school  Union,  in  1822,  the  Eev. 
George  Marsden  stated,  that  as  a 
gentleman,  who  by  the  providence  of 
God  had  become  reduced  in  his  cir- 
cumstances, was  walking  along  the 
street,  he  was  met  by  an  old  soldier, 
who  immediately  recognised  him, 
-and  mentioned  the  pleasure  he  felt  in 
having  been  one  of  his  Sabbath 
scholars.  The  soldier  had  heard  of 
the  circumstances  which  had  reduced 
his  former  teacher  to  distress,  and 
thus  addressed  him  :  ' '  You  were  my 
teacher  ;  I  have  a  pension  from  go- 
vernment ;  I  can  work  a  little,  and 
will  willingly  give  my  pension  for 
your  relief." 

1119.  G-aol  Testimony.  —  An 
American  writer  states,  that  out  of 
500  convicts,  it  was  found,  on  exa- 
mination, that  only  three  had  ever 
been  in  a  Sunday-school.  In  a  work 
recently  published,  entitled  Em/- 
lancVs  Exiles,  written  by  a  pious 
surgeon  of  the  Eoyal  K'avy,  it  is 
stated  that,  out  of  900  convicts 
exiled  from  their  native  land,  for 
breaking  its  laws,  only  seven  had 
been  admitted  into  a  Sabbath-school ; 
probably  not  one  of  the  seven  had 
-attended  it  regularly.  During  five 
voyages  to  the  penal  colonies,  A. 
Browning,  R.j^.,  states  that  he  has 
conducted  1,065  prisoners,  of  whom 
only  fourteen  had  been  in  a  Sunday- 
school.  The  Rev.  John  Clay,  Chap- 
lain to  the  House  of  Correction  at 
Preston,  in  Lancashire,  states  that, 
out  of  1,129  persons  committed  to 
that  prison,  only  one  was  familiar 
with  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  con- 
versant with  the  first  principles  of 
religion,  as  any  child  in  the  Bible 
class  of  a  well-conducted  Sunday- 
school  would  be ;  and  that  not  above 
twenty  of    the    whole    1,129    had 


been  in  the  habit  of  attending  any 
place  of  public  worship.  Again : 
the  Ptev.  David  Ptuell,  Chaplain  of 
the  x^ew  Prison,  Clerkenwell,  states 
that  upwards  of  100,000  persons 
have  passed  under  his  care,  the 
great  majority  of  whom  regretted 
that  they  had  been  brought  up  in 
utter  disregard  of  the  Lord's-day; 
and  affirmed,  that  neglecting  the 
Sabbath  in  youth  had  led  to  grosser 
crimes  in  after  years.  We  need  not 
ask  how  many  of  these  100,000  had 
been  trained  from  infancy  in  a  Sun- 
day-school.— Davids. 

1120.  An  Old  Man's  Experience. 
— I  was  naturally  desirous  of  gain- 
ing information  and  instruction  from 
a  venerable  man  of  72,  who  had,  in 
a  series  of  years,  superintended  the 
education  of  3,000  poor  children : 
who  had  been  actively  engaged  in 
visiting  both  the  city  and  the  county 
prisons,  whereby  he  had  gained  an 
an  ample  opportunity  of  knowing  if 
any  of  the  scholars  were  brought  in 
as  prisoners :  and  who,  on  appealing 
to  his  memory,  which,  although  at 
an  advanced  age,  is  strong  and 
lively,  could  answer — ^'jSTone!" — 
Jose])h  Lancaster. 

1121.  Social  Transformation. — 
The  Rev.  Mr.  Hoover,  in  addressing 
a  meeting  of  the  Philadelphia  Sun- 
day-school Union,  thus  spoke : — *'  If 
you  had  accompanied  me  in  a  walk 
through  this  district  two  years  ago, 
I  could  have  led  you  to  a  house,  or 
rather  a  hovel,  not  far  from  this 
spot,  which  was  unfit  to  be  the  resi- 
dence of  man  or  beast.  There  you 
would  have  seen  a  widow,  with  her 
seven  children,  in  the  rags  of  poverty, 
and  with  the  impress  of  misery  on 
their  countenances ;  the  room  and 
its  occupants  forming  a  scene  of 
wretchedness  seldom  surpassed.  If 
you  will  go  with  me  to-morrow,  I 
will  show  5"ou  the  same  house,  but 
no    longer    a    miserable    tenement. 


428 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL   WORLD. 


Within,  you  shall  behold  the  same 
widow  and  the  same  seven  children ; 
bnt  clothed  in  comfortable  raiment, 
and  peace  smiling  in  their  faces. 
The  Sunday-school  teacher  has  been 
there ;  and  he  has  led  them  to  the 
place  of  holy  instruction.  God  has 
visited  them  in  the  plenitude  of  His 
grace,  and  five  of  those  seven  chil- 
dren give  joyful  evidence  that  they 
have  passed  from  death  unto  life." 


1122. 


Mr.  Church,  a   con- 


siderable manufacturer  of  flax  and 
hemp,  was  asked  by  Mr.  Eaikes,  if 
he  perceived  any  difterence  in  the 
poor  children  he  employed  ?  "  Sii'," 
said  he,  '  *  the  change  could  not  have 
been  more  extraordinary,  in  my 
opinion,  had  they  been  transformed 
from  the  shape  of  wolves  and  tigers 
to  that  of  men.  In  temper,  disposi- 
tion, and  manners,  they  could  hardly 
be  said  to  differ  from  the  brute  crea- 
tion, but  since  the  establishment  of 
Sunday-schools,  they  have  seemed 
anxious  to  show  that  they  are  not 
the  ignorant,  illiterate  creatures  they 
were  before.  They  are  anxious  to 
gain  the  favour  and  good  opinion  of 
those  who  kindly  instruct  and  ad- 
monish them.  They  are  also  become 
more  tractable  and  obedient,  and 
less  quarrelsome  and  revengeful." — 
TFatson. 

1123.  Character  Preserved. — In 
the  report  of  thirty-five  schools  of 
Massachusetts,  U.  S.,in  1829,  it  was 
definitely  stated,  that  no  individual 
from  their  number  had  ever  been 
arraigned  before  a  civil  tribunal  for 
immoral  conduct,  while  only  two 
from  all  the  schools  in  the  State,  are 
mentioned,  who  had  been  arrested ; 
and  these  attended  the  Sunday- 
school  irregularly  for  a  very  short 
time. — Dr.  Cheever. 

1124.  Morality  Improved.  — 
''  There  has  been  a  great  alteration 
in  the  moral  condition  of  Spitalfields 


since  their  establishment.  The 
character  of  the  poor  of  Spitalfields 
is  very  different  from  what  it  was 
thirty  or  forty  years  ago.  You 
never  hear  of  any  attempt  to  riot 
there.  I  know  at  one  time  there 
were  individuals  sent  up  from  Not- 
tingham, with  a  view  to  effect  some- 
thing like  what  they  were  doing 
there,  and  that  they  have  been  more 
than  once  excited  to  riot  during  the 
last  war,  and  yet  that  they  were  very 
quiet.  Great  care  is  taken  of  their 
mental  and  moral  improvement. 
And  I  believe  no  instance  is  to  be 
found  where  so  multitudinous  a  poor 
congregate  together  in  so  small  a 
space,  with  so  little  inconvenience  to 
their  neighbours.  —  31?'.  William 
Kale. 

1125.  A  Neighbourhood  Altered. 
— A  justice  of  the  peace,  near  Bristol, 
in  1820,  speaking  of  the  neighbour- 
hood in  which  a  Sunday-school  1  :id 
been  established,  said  that  formerh'  it 
was  dangerous  even  to  go  through 
the  parish,  in  consequence  of  the 
ignorant  and  depraved  state  of  the 
inhabitants ;  but  now  he  saw  such 
an  alteration  for  the  better,  and  was 
so  pleased  with  the  sight  of  the 
children,  that  on  one  occasion  he 
invited  them  all  to  his  house,  and 
gave  them  refreshment. 

1126.  Benevolence  Displayed. — 
A  very  gratifying  instance  of  gene- 
rosity was  witnessed  a  few  years 
since,  among  the  boys  in  the  Thrup 
school,  connected  with  the  Stroud 
Union.  One  of  their  number  having 
been  absent  from  the  school  for 
several  Sundays,  the  boj^s  were 
informed  that  the  cause  was  his 
having  no  shoes,  and  his  parents 
being  too  poor  to  buy  him  any.  The 
next  Sunday  they  freely  contributed 
a  sufticient  sum  to  enable  their 
schoolfellow  to  appear  among  them 
on  the  following  Sabbath,  with  new 
shoes. 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


429 


1127.  The  Distressed  Eelieved. 
— In  the  month  of  October,  1817,  a 
little  girl,  about  six  years  old,  sister 
to  one  of  the  scholars  in  a  Sunday- 
school  at  Bristol,  was  so  dreadfully 
burned  as  to  cause  her  death.  The 
Sunday  after  this  event  happened, 
the  superintendent  hinted  to  the 
scholars  the  propriety  of  making- 
subscriptions  amongst  themselves, 
occasionally,  for  the  relief  of  the 
afflicted,  and  stimulated  and  en- 
couraged them  to  perform  acts  of 
charity  and  mercy,  without  expressly 
calling  upon  them  to  do  so  on  that 
particular  occasion.  On  the  Sunday 
following,  however,  numbers  came 
prepared  to  subscribe  their  half-pence 
and  pence,  which  they  cheerfully 
did,  and  a  collection  amounting  to 
nine  shillings  and  upwards  was 
made.  Some  of  the  older  girls  were 
deputed  to  carry  it  to  the  poor 
friends  of  the  deceased  child,  which 
unexpected  donation  was  most  thank- 
fully received  by  them. 

1128.  The  G-ennans  Assisted. — 
When  a  paper,  describing  the  suffer- 
ings of  the  Germans  during  the  last 
year,  was  read  by  the  teachers  of  a 
Sunday-school  in  Spitallields,  the 
minds  of  the  children  were  so  af- 
fected, that  on  the  following  Lord's- 
day  they  made  a  collection  amongst 
themselves,  amounting  to  £1  7s.  8|d. 
One  child  brought  a  new  shilling, 
probably  a  hoarded  treasure  ;  some 
presented  a  sixpence,  some  a  penny, 
and  some  a  farthing  ;  but  all  with  a 
cheerfulness  that  deeply  affected  their 
teachers. 

1129.  A  Chaplain's  Testimony. 
— In  a  letter  to  the  editors  of  the 
New  York  Observer,  in  1829,  the 
chaplain  of  the  State  prison  attests 
the  following  important  fact : — I 
have  lately  made  a  pretty  thorough 
inquiry  among  the  convicts  here,  for 
the  purpose  of  learning  who,  and  how 
many,  have  ever  enjoyed  the  advan- 


tages of  a  Sabbath- school.  The  re- 
sult is,  that  out  of  more  than  five 
hundred  convicts,  not  one  has  been 
found  who  has  ever  been,  for  any 
considerable  time,  a  regular  member 
of  a  Sabbath-school ;  and  not  more 
than  two  or  three  who  have  ever 
attended  such  a  school  at  all. 

1130.  A  Patherless  Boy.— One 
Sabbath  evening,  in  1827,  after 
Divine  service,  a  little  fatherless  boy, 
about  ten  years  of  age,  belonging  to 
a  Sunday-school  at  Folkstone,  said 
to  his  mother :  ' '  Shall  I  read  a 
psalm,  mother?"  After  the  little 
fellow  had  finished  reading,  he  said, 
"I  will  try  to  pray  this  night,"  and 
then  put  up  the  following  petition  : 
"  0  Lord,  look  down  on  a  little  child, 
and  preserve  me  from  sin,  and  may 
I  tread  in  the  footsteps  of  my  dear 
father,  now  in  glory :  prepare  me  for 
an  early  death ;  take  away  this  stony 
heart,  and  give  me  a  heart  of  flesh ; 
for  Thou,  0  Lord,  canst  if  Thou 
wilt."  Here  he  rose,  and  said, 
' '  Mother,  I  will  try  to  pray  again 
some  other  time."  He  continued  to 
pray  both  with  his  mother  and  in 
private. 

1131.  Library  Books — As  one  of 
the  teachers  of  a  Sabbath- school  at 
Fife,  in  Scotland,  was,  a  few  years 
ago,  visiting  a  family  in  a  remote 
part  of  the  muii's,  the  mother  of  one 
of  his  scholars,  after  conversing  ^tvith 
him  on  the  advantages  derived  from 
the  school,  broke  out  in  nearly  the 
following  terms :  "I  canna  tell  you 
how  fond  my  goodman  is  o'  the  little 
Kbrary  books ;  he  is  not  able  to  at- 
tend the  school  himself,  but  as  soon 
as  he  comes  home,  it  is  his  first  ques- 
tion, *  What  kind  of  books  ha'e  you 
gotten  the  night?'  And  then  he 
fa's  to  them  wi'  sic  keenness,  that  he 
will  hardly  leave  them  to  come  to  his 
bed."  WiU  it  be  supposed  by  any, 
that  these  religious  books  are  sent 
and  eagerly    read    in    the    humble 


430 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


dwellings  of  the  poor  in  vain ;  or 
that  they  return  without  having 
answered  a  most  important  purpose  ? 

1132.  A  Dying  Child's  Eemark. 
— A  little  boy,  between  five  and  six 
years  old,  who  was  taught  in  a  Sun- 
day-school in  America,  was  ill,  and 
supposed  to  be  near  death.  One 
day  he  called  his  wicked  and  intem- 
perate father  to  his  bed-side,  and 
said  to  him,  "Father,  I  am  very 
sick,  I  shall  soon  die ;  but  I  am  not 
afraid,  for  I  am  going  to  Jesus ;  and 
what  shall  I  tell  Jesus  is  the  reason 
you  don't  love  Him  ?"  He  died,  and 
went,  it  was  believed,  to  the  Saviour 
whom  he  loved  on  earth.  The  mind 
of  the  father  became  most  deeply 
impressed,  and  he  sought  the  Re- 
deemer, whom  he  had  hitherto  ne- 
glected, attributing  the  change  to  the 
instrumentality  of  his  dying  son. 

1133.  Whitchurch  Scholar.— 
The  father  of  a  little  girl,  who  at- 
tended a  Sunday-school  at  Whit- 
church, Salop,  in  1827,  was  in  the 
habit  of  frequenting  the  public- 
house.  Late  one  Saturday  evening, 
when  on  the  point  of  going,  his  wife 
entreated  him  to  stay  at  home.  The 
little  girl  united  in  the  entreaties  of 
her  mother,  saying,  "  Oh !  don't  go, 
father,  for  it  will  make  us  stop  up 
so  late ;  then  mother  can't  go  to 
chapel  in  the  morning."  The  father, 
overcome  by  the  entreaties  of  the 
child,  wept,  and  did  not  go.  He 
afterwards  attended  Divine  worship. 

1134.  A  Drunken  lather.— 
The  Eev.  Samuel  Hillyard,  of  Bed- 
ford, at  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
Sunday-school  Union  in  1824,  re- 
marked :■ — "  It  was  pleasing  to  think 
that  Sunday-school  children  had  be- 
come blessings  to  their  parents.  A 
Sunday-school  child,  who  had  been 
admonished  by  her  teacher,  was  so 
struck  with  the  advice  given,  that 
she  exclaimed,  "  Oh,  go  to  my  home,  i 


and  speak  to  my  father,  who  gets 
drunk  every  day;  what  you  have 
said  has  made  me  sorry  for  my  sin, 
and  it  may  make  him  so  too ! "  The 
teacher  advised  her,  when  she  ar- 
rived at  home,  to  speak  to  her  father 
of  what  she  had  heard.  She  did  so, 
and  the  father  burst  into  tears,  and 
from  that  time  altered  his  course,, 
and  afterwards  made  a  good  husband 
and  a  good  father. 

1135.  A  Pather  in  Ireland. — 
A  scholar  in  a  Sunday-school  at 
Castleblaney,  in  Ireland,  became  so 
impressed  with  the  instructions  and 
admonitions  which  he  received  there, 
as  never  to  go  to  bed  without  sajdng 
his  prayers.  One  evening,  while  he 
was  doing  so,  his  father,  a  very  pro- 
fligate man,  came  home,  and,  as 
usual,  began  to  curse  and  swear, 
and  abuse  his  wife  and  family.  In 
the  midst  of  his  rage,  he  overheard 
the  child,  who  was  only  separated 
from  him  by  a  low  partition,  praying 
aloud  that  God  would  pardon  his 
wicked  father.  The  effect  was  as- 
tonishing. His  heart  was  struck ; 
he  crept  to  the  bed-side,  and  there, 
with  a  "  broken  and  contrite  heart," 
joined  in  supplication  that  God  would 
be  merciful  to  him  a  sinner.  Such  a 
prayer  was  never  yet  rejected  at  the 
throne  of  grace :  a  Saviour  was  re- 
vealed to  him,  "able"  and  willing 
"to  save  to  the  uttermost."  He 
became  a  perfect  reformed,  correct, 
industrious  man,  and  his  wife  and 
other  children  were  partakers  with 
him  of  "  like  precious  faith." 

1136.  News  from  Home. — The- 
good  efifects  of  the  care  bestowed  on 
the  scholars  were  also  seen  in  their 
families.  One  boy,  the  son  of  a 
journeyman  currier  of  dissipated 
habits,  after  being  some  time  in  the 
school,  told  Mr.  Raikes  that  his 
father  was  wonderfully  changed, 
and  had  left  off*  going  to  the  ale- 
house on  a  Sanday.   Soon  afterwards 


SUNDAY    SCHOOL    WORLD. 


431 


Eaikes  met  the  father  in  the  street, 
and  expressed  the  pleasure  he  felt 
in  hearing  of  the  change  in  his  con- 
duct. "Sir,"  said  he,  "I  may 
thank  you  for  it."  ''  Nay,"  said 
Raikes,  "  that  is  impossible  ;  I  do 
not  recollect  that  I  ever  spoke  to 
you  before."  "No,  sir,"  he  re- 
plied, "but  the  good  instruction 
you  give  my  boy,  he  brings  home 
to  me,  and  it  is  that,  sir,  which  has 
induced  me  to  reform  my  life." 
Many  years  afterwards,  as  Raikes, 
on  a  week-day,  was  entering  the 
door  of  the  cathedral,  he  overtook 
a  soldier,  and  accosting  him,  said 
it  gave  him  great  pleasure  to  see 
that  he  was  going  to  a  place  of 
worship.  "Ah!"  said  he,  "I  may 
thank  you  for  that."  "  Me  !"  said 
Eaikes,  "why,  I  don't  know  that 
I  ever  saw  you  before."  "  Sir," 
replied  the  soldier,  "when  I  was  a 
little  boy  I  was  indebted  to  you  for 
my  first  instruction  in  duty.  I  used 
to  meet  you  at  the  morning  service 
in  this  cathedral,  and  was  one  of 
your  Sunday  scholars.  My  father, 
when  he  left  this  city,  took  me  into 
Berkshire,  and  put  me  apprentice  to 
a  shoemaker.  I  used  often  to  think 
of  you.  At  length  I  went  to  Lon- 
don, and  was  there  drawn  to  serve 
as  a  militia-man  in  the  Westminster 
Mnitia.  I  came  to  Gloucester  last 
night  with  a  deserter,  and  took  the 
opportunity  of  coming  this  morning 
to  visit  the  old  spot,  and  in  hopes 
of  once  more  seeing  you." — >S'.  S. 
Jubilee,  1831. 

1137.  Influence  of  Parental 
Piety. — In  a  certain  village  there 
were  ninety -eight  settled  families 
having  children  over  ten  years  of 
age.  In  twenty-seven  of  them  both 
pare7its  were  pious !  In  these 
twenty- seven  families  there  were  one 
hundred  and  twenty-five  children 
over  ten  years  old.  Eighty-four,  or 
about  two-thirds,  of  these  children 


were  pious.  In  tiineteen  of  the 
ninety- eight  families  only  07ie  of  the 
parents — the  mother  with  a  single 
exception  —  was  pious.  Of  the 
ninety-five  children  they  contained, 
thirty-one — one-third — were  pious. 
In  the  TQiai2imm^  Jifty-two  families 
neither  parent  was  pious  !  Of  their 
one  hundred  and  thirty-nine  children 
only  thirteen — not  one-tenth — were 
piov  s.  These  facts,  the  fruit  of  care- 
ful investigation,  strikingly  illustrate 
the  immense  power  of  parental  in- 
fluence for  good  or  ill.  Piety  in  both 
parents  won  two-thirds  of  their 
little  ones  to  Christ;  in  one  parent 
otie-third ;  where  no  piety  existed, 
only  one-tenth  (and  they  were  saved 
by  the  Sunday-school)  were  lovers  of 
God  \—S.  S,  Scrap  Book. 

1138.  A  Pather's  Confession. — 
At  a  Wesleyan  class-meeting,  a  man 
rose  and  addressed  the  leader  thus : 
— "  I  am  very  thankful  to  God  and 
to  you,  for  yom-  Sunday-school.  My 
son,  who  now  sits  beside  me,  is  my 
spiritual  father.  He  heard  me  curs- 
ing, while  in  a  state  of  drunkenness, 
and  said  to  me,  *  Oh,  father !  my 
teacher  said  to-day,  at  the  Sunday- 
school,  that  neither  drunkards  nor 
swearers  could  enter  into  heaven.' 
This  so  afiected  my  miad,  that,  from 
that  time,  I  was  enabled,  by  the 
grace  of  God,  to  leave  off"  those 
wicked  practices ;  and  both  myself 
and  my  son  are  now  members  of 
your  society."  He  then  laid  his 
hand  on  his  son's  head,  and  repeated, 
"  My  son  is  my  spiritual  father." 

1139.  The  Little  Maid.— A  Httle 
girl  of  ten  years  old,  perhaps,  found 
her  way  as  one  of  our  scholars.  She 
lived  as  a  "little  maid,"  like  the  one 
that  waited  on  Naaman's  wife,  in  a 
rich  but  careless  family,  who  went 
to  no  church,  and  kept  no  Sabbath. 
In  the  few  succeeding  weeks  after 
she  came  among  us,  she  brought 
with  her  one  and  another  of  the 


432 


SUNDAY   SCHOOL   WOELD. 


cliildren  of  the  household,  till  she 
succeeded  in  attracting  every  child 
in  the  family  to  the  school. — Dr. 
Tyng. 

1140.  Does  God  have  Eyes?— 
A  Hebrew  maiden  was  the  lining 
link  between  Naaman  and  the  God  of 
Israel.  In  almost  every  Sunday- 
school  there  are  some  children  of 
godless  parents,  who  scarcely  keep  a 
Sabbath,  and  never  go  to  church. 
How  may  those  children  be  the 
means  of  carrjang  the  Gospel  into 
their  homes?  One  way  is  to  give 
them  some  question  to  ask  their 
parents.  Little  Mary  asked  her 
teacher,  "Does  God  have  eyes?" 
His  reply  was,  "Suppose  you  ask 
youj  mother  that  question,  and  if 
she  cannot  tell,  then  get  your  Bible, 
and  it  will  tell  you."  '"Mother, 
does  God  have  eyes  ? "  was  soon 
asked  in  a  godless  home.  "How 
should  I  loiow,"  was  the  rude  reply, 
"  I  never  saw  God."  Mary  thought 
of  her  lesson,  and  answered,  "  The 
Bible  says  God  sees  you."  "  Where 
does  it  say  so?  "  inquired  the  mother, 
quite  startled.  Mary  took  her  Bible 
and  found  the  words,  "The  eyes  of 


the  Lord  are  in  every  place,  behold- 
ing the  evil  and  the  good."  That 
mother  began  to  think.  In  a  few 
days  she  was  an  inquirer  for  salva- 
tion. Mary  was  a  golden  link  be- 
tween her  and  her  God. 


1141.  Heathen  Boy. — A  heathen 
boy  of  eight  years  was  at  a  mission 
station  in  South  Africa.  His  father 
came  to  take  him  away,  wanting 
him  to  herd  cattle.  The  child  ob- 
jected, saying,  "  There  is  nothing, 
good  where  father  lives."  His  father 
replied,  "What  can  such  a  thing  as 
you  are  learn  here  P "  The  lad 
looked  him  in  the  face  and  said, 
"  Father,  I  have  learned  something." 
"  Eepeat  it  then."  "  Father,  it  is 
a  faithful  sapng  and  worthy  of  all 
acceptation,  that  Jesus  Christ  came 
into  the  world  to  save  sinners  ?  Does 
father  know  who  Jesus  is  ?  He  is 
the  Son  of  God.  Does  father  know 
who  are  sinners  ?  All  are  sinners." 
The  child  was  left  at  the  mission „ 
the  father  went  home,  but  returned 
in  a  few  weeks  a  changed  man,  say- 
ing that  he  ' '  had  met  with  the  pre- 
cious Word  of  God. — Maxwell. 


GENERAL    INDEX. 

Words  printed  in  italics  are  the  titles  of  Sub-divisions.     The  numbers 
are  those  of  paragraphs  only. 


Abuse  of  S.  S.  Unions,  860. 
Abuses  in  library,  789. 
Adaptation,  561,  721. 

of  means  and  end,  95,  692. 
Adapted  books,  798. 
Addresses  to  children,  734 — 750, 
Adey,  Eev.  J.,  33. 
Adult  class,  527,  955—957. 
Adults'  and  children's  service, 

700, 
Advantage  of  retaining  scholars, 
532. 

of  S.  S.,  994. 
Advice  to  young  men,  reading, 

831. 
After  many  days,  989. 

three  years,  22. 
Aged  minister's  secret  of  suc- 
cess, 123. 
Agency,  S.  S.,  193, 
Aim  at  conversion,  486, 

of  scholar,  508. 
Aldric,  Bp.  of  Mens,  503. 
Alexander,  Dr.,  896. 
Alexandria,  S.  S.  in,  62. 
Alford,  Dr.  on  education,  1024. 
Alleme's  S.  S.,  14. 
American  hbrary  plan,  803. 
scholar,  1102. 

S.  S.,  12, 13,  64—76. 
Anecdote  of  D'Aubigne,  422. 

of  Bishop  Lonsdale,  347. 

of  careless  teacher,  361, 

of  Chalmers,  349, 

of  Dr.  Arnold,  455, 

of  Dr.  Donne,  356. 

of  Dr.  Lathrop,  430. 

of  Latimer,  427. 

of  Masillon,  412. 

of  Mr.  Charles,  452. 

punctuahty,  336,  33S. 

of  Eev.  J.  Brown,  375. 

of  Eev.  J.  GriflSn,  506. 

of  Southey,  356. 

tact,  341. 

of  Tillotson,  395. 

of  Whitfield,  411,  430. 
Anniversaries,  924 — 929. 
Antigua,  63. 
Application,  410 — 412. 
Appreciation  of  scholars,  542. 
Apprentice,  the  praying,  509. 
-t.pproval  of  conscience,  962. 


Apt  to  teach,  340. 
Archer's,  Eev.Dr.,Sermon,1009, 
Argumentative  teacher,  471. 
Arnold,  Dr.,  anecdote  of,  323. 

atLaleham,  121. 
Art  of  questioning,  441. 

of  teaching,  353. 
Asbury,  13,  66. 

Associations  of  converted  scho- 
lars, 489, 
Athens,  S.  S.  in,  62, 
Attendance  of  scholar,  477. 

of  teacher,  339. 
Attention,  413—419,  637,  638. 
Attractive  books,  786. 

power  of  objects,  636. 
Augustine,  saying  of,  317. 
Avoid  figures,  624. 

prolixity,  406. 
Awkward  scholars,  545 — 557. 

Bacon,  on  reading,  830. 

Ball,  Miss,  14. 

Bath,  1003. 

Baxter,  Eichard,  974. 

saying  of,  492. 
Baxter's  simplicity,  395. 
Bear  each  other's  burdens,  107. 
Bedale,  S.  S.,  14. 
Beecher,  Eev.  Dr.  Lyman,  76. 

Eev.  H.  W,,  saying  of,  348. 

S.S.,182. 
Begm  early,  492,  569—571,  580. 

right,  390. 
Beirout,  S.  S.  in,  62. 
Belfrv,  class  in,  1110. 
Benefits  to  scholars,  1037—1062. 

t0  2Mrents,  1063—1071. 

to  teachers,  1083. 
Benevolence    displayed,    1126 

—1128. 
Beringer,  Bp.  of  Bourges,  503. 
Bermuda,  63. 
Bethune,  Mr.  D.,  67. 
Bible  classes,  957. 

knowledge,  1087. 

loving  the,  515. 

objects,  639. 

Society,  186. 
Bibles,  reference,  422. 
Big  scholar,  944. 
Biographical  sketch,  658. 
Bishop's,  a,  saying,  824. 


Blackboard,  589. 
Blackboard,  659—672. 

examples  of  lessons,  664 — 
672. 

indLspensable,  661. 

no  special    talent  needed, 
663. 

used  in  any  school  6G2. 

utility  of,  659,  660. 
Blind  scholar,  510. 
Bohemia,  Lutherans  in,  6S0. 
Books,  a  bishop's  saj-ing  824, 

a  stoi-y  of,  974. 

Bacon  on,  830. 

Collier  on,  822. 

Colton  on,  823. 

for  home,  851. 

for  juniors,  852, 

for  scholars,  833,  853. 

for  teachers,  810—819. 

for  young  men,  820 — 831. 

for  young  women,  832. 

Gibbon'sway  of  reading,827. 

Lutheran,  825. 

Milton  on,  828. 

ordei-ing,  834. 

read  good  ones,  825. 
Borromeo,  7 — 11,  679. 
Boston,  683,  1019. 
Box  of  letters,  629,  630. 
Boy's  meetings,  948. 

reproof,  1078, 1079. 

wish,  519. 
Brevity,  744. 
Bright's,  J.,  M.P.,    perorations, 

750. 
British  consul,  103G. 
"British  Ee\iew"  on  S.  S.,  152. 
Brown,  James,  1105. 

Eev.  J.,  anecdote  of,  375. 
Bruce,  Eobert,  heart  of,  326. 
Budgett,  Samuel,  491. 
Building,  177—183. 

for  S.  schools,  102. 
Bmiyan  as  a  teacher,  654. 
Business,  my  Father's,  325. 
Butterworth,  Mr.  M.P.,  153. 

Cairo,  S.S.in,  62. 
Cambridge  student,  1023, 
Campbell's,  Dr.,  view,  125. 
Cant,  498. 
Canvassing,  need  of,  837. 


434 


GENERAL    INDEX. 


Catalogue,  libraiy,  809,  835, 836. 

Communication  between  super- 

Early church  and  children,  674. 

Catechising,  167,  170,  438—440, 

intendent  and  teacher,  259, 

conversions,  481,  482. 

451—453. 

Concern  for  others,  1056, 

habits,  971. 

Catechisms,  168,  169,  457. 

Conducting  children's  services, 

impressions,  1025. 

Catterick  and  children,  14. 

696. 

S.  schools,  13—15. 

Cecil,  saying  of,  350. 

Connection  of  pastor  and  school, 

Early  piety,  497. 

Chalmers,  Dr., anecdote  of,  349. 

120. 

checked,  505. 

saying  of,  433. 

Conference  at  New  York,  1018. 

examples  of,  503. 

Change,  needed,  719. 

Congress  at  York,  1008. 

Earnest  teacher,  981. 

Chaplain's  testimony,  1129. 

Conscience  and  teacher,  1033. 

Earnestness,  324 — 327. 

Character  preserved,  1123. 

approval  of,  962. 

rewarded,  993. 

Charles  of  Bala,  124. 

to  be  trained,  409, 

Eastern  S.  schools,  62. 

Eev.  T.  of  Bala,  53,  1111. 

Consecration,  1054. 

Edmburgh,  1004. 

Check  system,  library,  804. 

Consider  the  scholar,  535, 

S.  S.  Society,  49. 

Cheerfulness,  3S2. 

your  material,  380. 

Education,  78 — 80. 

Child  culture,  490. 

Constantinople,  S.  S.  in,  62. 

begins  with  life,  570,   571, 

Child's  answer,  1076. 

Consul's  story,  1036, 

580. 

a,  view  of  pastor,  127. 

Contentment,  1052. 

Edward's  Jonathan,  483. 

of  futm-e,  and  S.  schools,105. 

Contrast,  past  and  present,  S.S., 

Effect  of  church  sympathy,  108, 

prayer,  1038. 

19. 

109. 

sympathy,  108,  109, 

Conversion,  a  universal  need. 

of  not  studying,  361. 

testimony,  523. 

488. 

of  S.  S.  on  ministry,  1010. 

wants,  497. 

and  its  children,  102. 

Encourage  your  scholars,  403, 

Childhood  piety,  499. 

of  parent,  518, 

End  and  means,  95. 

Children  and  civilization,  1 . 

of  scholar,  480. 

the,  to  be  remembered,  372, 

and  Christianity,  2. 

of  teacher,  328,  1085. 

Essay  on  Ubrary,  793. 

and  early  church,  674. 

Conversions,  church  views  of. 

on  object-teaching,  633. 

and  minister,  128,  129,  704. 

485, 

Example  of  Ulustration,  437, 

and  Sabbath,  1073. 

frequent,  487. 

another,  554. 

at  prayer,  732. 

to  be  aimed  at,  486. 

of  teaching,  360. 

at  worship,  720,  722. 

too  few,  484. 

of  simplicity,  621. 

have  special  interest  in  Gos- 

youthful, 1037. 

power  of,  543. 

pel,  579. 

Converted  scholars,  93. 

Eeligious,  81. 

in  second  century,  675. 

scholars  in  association,  489. 

Examples  of   object-teaching, 

must  be  converted,  480. 

Co-operation    of   parents,  140, 

643—646, 

observe,  541. 

146. 

three,  513. 

of  the  chm-ch,  102, 

Correspondence  with  scholars. 

Excellent  teacher,  468. 

preaching  to,  127,  702, 

533. 

Excessive  organisation,  156. 

Children's  services,  673—701. 

Cotton,  Mathers,  saying  of,  355. 

Excursions,  930,  931. 

claims  acknowledged,  676. 

Courtesy  in  teacher,  960, 

Exercises,   opening  and  close. 

chapel,  691. 

Cousin,  Victor,  81. 

723—725. 

meetings,  698. 

Covenant  of  teacher,  306. 

Expense  of  library  legitimate. 

China,  voice  from,  1020. 

Cowper  the  poet,  36. 

776. 

Chorister,  912. 

Extra  meetings,  944. 

Christianity  and  children,  2. 

Damascus,  S.  S.  in,  62. 

boys'  948. 

Church  co-operation,  98. 

Dark  ages  and  S.  S.,  5. 

children's,  946,  947. 

members,  scholars,  531. 

Drawing-lessons,  401, 

old  scholars,  944,  945, 

members  and  S.  S.  95,  104, 

Deferred  results,  1024. 

social  class  meetings,  349. 

mistake,  103,  106, 

Delivery  of  address,  737. 

Eyes,  use  of,  368, 

supervising  the  S.  S.,  101. 

Dens  of  London,  399. 

Church's  duty  to  S.  S.,  94,  99. 

Details  of  mission  S.  S.,  866. 

Family  and  S.  S.,  476, 

Churches  originated,  1108. 

Develope  the  good,  404. 

reformed,  1071. 

fed,  1111. 

Dickens,  Mr.  C,,  on  preaching, 

Faith  of  children,  501. 

Chrysostom,  503. 

716. 

Far  country,  news  from,  1034. 

Civilization  and  Childi-en,  1 . 

DifBculties,  975,  976,  1077. 

Farr,  Mr.,  of  Philadelphia,  987. 

Claim  of  S.  schools,  91. 

remedied,  library,  806. 

Father  in  Ireland,  1135. 

of  S.  S.  for  support,  148. 

Direct  results  of  S.  S.,  150 — 155. 

Father's  confession,  113S. 

Clark,  111'.,  985. 

Disciplme,  241,  246. 

Fatherless  boy,  1130. 

Class  in  belfry,  1110. 

Distant  prospects,  1029. 

Figurative  teaching,  624. 

mottos,  558. 

Doctrinal  teaching,  407,  408. 

Findernes  flowers,  917. 

Classes,  advantages  of,  560. 

Doddridge  and  chUdi-en,  122. 

Five  years'  work,  988. 

ClassiScation,  162,  261. 

Philip,  974. 

First-rate  scholar,  507. 

Classification  of  scholars,  553 — 

Does  God  have  eyes,  1140, 

Fhst  S.  S.  in  America,  12. 

566. 

Dull  teacher,  473. 

two  years  of  S.  S.,  20. 

Clement's  hymn  for  children. 

Duty  of  chm-ch,  94. 

Form  right  habits,  627,  628. 

675. 

of  Ubrarian,  773. 

Forming  a  lil^rary,  801. 

Clevei  reply,  511, 

of  pastors,  111,112,  118. 

mission  S.  S.,  863. 

Coleridge,  on  education,  78. 

of  teachers,  308. 

Forms  of  pastoral  oversight,125. 

Combined  method,  3SS, 

Drunken  father,  1134. 

Fostrer,  Eev.  T.  79. 

Commentaries,  357. 

Dying  father,  1066,  1067. 

France  and  S.  schools,  60,  6 ! . 

Comiiiittee  for  library,  790, 

mission  scholar,  1100. 

French  writei',  saying  of,  338. 

GENERAL    INDEX. 


435 


Friendly  relations  of  S.  S.  and 

church,  100. 
Fi-uit  after  death,  991. 

at  last,  980. 

possible,  522. 
Furnishing  hbrary,  794. 

Gambling,  1055. 
Gains,  none  -without  pains, 
Gaol  testimony,  1119. 
General  influences,  1115. 

results,  190. 
Gentleness,  373. 
German  gu-1,  516. 
Germans  assisted,  1128. 
Getting  attention,  414 — 419. 
Girl  in  3Ieath  hospital,  1099. 
Glasgow,     childrens'     church, 
686. 

S.  S.'s,  13. 
Gloucester,  17. 
God  sees  it !  1074. 
Good  done  for  its  own  sake,  967. 

plan,  553. 

seed  time,  494. 
Gospel  motives,  961. 
Gradation  in  study,  562. 
Graham's,  Mrs.,  diary,  67. 
Grandmother,  a,  learning,  1063. 
Granted,  take  nothing  for,  397. 
Gratitude,  1061,  1062. 
Great  want,  342. 

want  met  by  S.  S.,  82. 
Green,  James,  1104. 
Grifan,  Eev.  J.,  506. 
Grounds    of     encouragement, 

961. 
Gurney,  Mr.,  40. 

Hacker's  S.  S.,  12,  Go. 
Habits,  early,  971. 

form  right,  627,  628. 
Hands,  Eey.  W.,  1006. 
Hamilton's,   Dr.  E.  W.,  view, 

133. 
Hampshire  S.  S.  Union,  46. 
Happii  deaths  of  scholars,  1098 — 

iioV. 

Harrison,  Miss,  14. 

Have  something  to  teach.  733. 

Haywood,  John,  1101. 

Heart  of  Bruce,  326. 

Heartiness,  376. 

Heathen  boy, 

saying,  999. 
Herbert,  Geo.,  saying  of,  369. 
Heedless  teacher,  469. 
Helping  the  teacher,  521. 
Henderson,  Dr.,  1116. 
Hervey's,  Eev.  J.,   success    in 

teaching,  396. 
Hibernian  S.  S.  society,  57,  58. 
High  "Wycombe,  14. 
Hill,  Eev.  Eowland,  37,  33. 
Hint  on  lessons,  365. 

to  teachers,  1024. 
Hints  on  library,  778. 

on  teaching,  383. 
Hired  teachers,  18,  26,  27,  34. 
Historical  sketch  object  teach- 
mg,  631. 


History  of  S.  S.,  1—77. 

of  S.  S.,  review  of,  184. 
Hobbies,  bewai'e  of,  276. 
Honorius,  503. 
Home,  Eev.  T.  H.,  43. 
Honesty,  1044. 
Humphrey,  Dr.,  to   ministers, 

119. 
Hymns,  S.  S.  influence  of,  998. 

Illustrations  of  Scripture,  983. 
Illustrative  teaching,  423 — 427, 

433—437. 
Imagination,  622,  623. 
Immediate  conversions,  48-3. 
Importance  of  Mission  S.  S.. 

862. 
Inconstant  teacher,  475. 
Increase  of  school,  268,  269. 
Index  rerum,  356. 
Indirect  influence,  974. 
Indirect  results,  994. 
IndividuaUty,  536. 
Inexperienced  teacher,  472. 
Infidel  father,  1068. 
Influence  of  little  things,  520. 

of  S.  S.  hymns,  998. 
Infant,  a  useful  hint,  586. 

age  of  scholar,  588. 

anj  one  will  do  !  597. 

blackboard,  589. 

C.  and  rest  of  S.  S.,  563,  584, 

cheerfuhiess,  604,  605. 

concerted  action,  614. 

definition,  573. 

detail,  615. 

encova'agemeuts,  582. 

experiment,  614. 

experience  needed,  599. 

form  of  gallery,  594. 

gallery  indispensable,  593. 

general  plan,  583,  537. 

general  view,  568 — 582. 

his  selection,  595,  597. 

influence  on  education,  581. 

influence   on    family,    576, 
577. 

influence  on  habit,  579. 

library,  850. 

manner  of  teaching,  612. 

methods,  612. 

needful  to  complete  S.  S., 
575. 

needs  liveliness.  601 — 604. 

not    easy  but    mterestiug, 
572. 

often  too  yoimg,  598. 

order,  dlD. 

organisation,  583 — 591. 

physical  qualifications,  611. 

possible  in  every  S.  S.,  574. ) 

power  of  observation,  606, 
607. 

recapitulation,  613. 

separate  room  needful,  5S5, 
588,  591. 

should  value  his  work,  60S. 

simplicity,  616. 

size  of  room,  591. 

special    talent,     586,     597, 
600—603, 


Infant  teacher,  502—608. 

variety,  613. 
Ireland,  S.  S.'s  in,  56—53. 
Irish  girl,  1047,  1053. 

S.  S.  Union,  57. 
Irregular  attendance,  339. 
I  see,  I  see,  493. 

Jesuit  schools,  678. 
Judging  of  results,  963. 
Jukes,  Eev.  C,  1014. 

Keep  on  studying,  358. 

to  the  point,  405,  406. 
Kennedy,  Eev.  Dr.,  56. 
Kinnaird,  M.P.,  on  hbrary,  777. 
Knill,  Eev.  E.,  1005. 
Know  in  order  to  teach,  345. 

what  a  teacher  should,  366. 
Knowing  and  teaching,  344. 
Knowledge  a  good  thing.  493. 

and  S.  S.,  187. 

and  study,  355. 

got  by  teaching,  1084. 

useless,  171. 
Knox's  S.  S.,  6. 

Labour,  not  in  vain,  972. 
Late  fruit,  1032. 
Laleham,  Dr.  Arnold  at,  121. 
Lambert's  S.  S.,  13. 
Lancaster,  Joseph,  17. 
Leader  of  singing,  912,  913. 
Learning  new  tunes,  910. 
Leighton,  remark  of,  312. 
Lesson,  one  uniform,  1G5,  166, 
2SS,  289—292. 

how  to  prepare,  362 — 364. 

first,    from   bad     teacher 
556. 
Lesson,  things  needful  in,  392 
Letter-box,  629. 
Levity,  378. 
Leyland,  Eev.  Dr.,  74. 
Librarian,  773 — 775. 

duties,  773. 

qualifications,  774. 

his  office,  775. 
Library,  776. 

A.  Kinnaird,  M.P.,  on,  777 

abuse  of,  789. 

adapted  books,  798. 

a  legitimate  expense,  776 
784,  735. 

attractive  books,  786. 

books,  1131. 

committee,  796. 

corrupting   hterature,     87 
788,  792. 

essay  on,  793. 

Action,  799. 

for  infants,  850. 

furnishing  the,  794. 

great  mistake,  790. 

hints  on,  773 — 783. 

how  to  form,  301. 

how  to  test,  302. 

living  books,  300. 

old  books,  791. 

power  of,  779,  781,  793. 

selecting  books,  794.-802. 


436 


GEXESAL    INDEX. 


Library,  S.  S.  literature,  782. 

Sunday  books,  779. 

too  large,  795,  797. 
Library  for   teachers,    private, 
810—815. 

general,  816— S19. 

for  scholars,  833. 

young  men,  820 — 831. 

young  women,  832. 
Library  plans,  803. 

American,  803. 

an  untried  plan,  805. 

catalogue,  809,  835,  836. 

clieck  system,  804. 

how  to  manage,  807,   808, 
833. 

remedy  of  difficulties,  806. 
Lift  me  higher,  1098. 
Light,  Lord!  316. 
Literature  of  S.  S.,  188,  189,  782. 
Lindsey  of  Catterick,  14. 
Little  maid,  1139. 
Little  things,  520. 
Living  books,  800. 
Lombardy,  7. 
London,  children's  services,  687. 

S.  S.,  the  first,  37,  38. 

S.  S.,  the  second,  39. 

S.  S.  Union,  origin,  40. 
Long  sermons  tire,  745. 
Lonsdale,  Bp.,  anecdote  of,  347. 
Love,  teachers,  318. 

the  work,  321. 

the  worst,  320. 

to  Sabbath,  1073. 
Loving  the  Bible,  515. 
Loud  speaking,  381. 
Loyala's  schools,  G78. 
Luther's S.  S.,  6. 

saymg,  315. 

Managing  the  library,  804,  807. 
Mann,  Eev.  Isaac,  1000. 
Mann's,  Mrs.  Horace,  tact,  341. 
Manners  reformed,  1109. 
Marcium,  503. 
Mariner,  739. 
MartjT,  a  young,  1075. 
Massachusetts,  65. 
Material   for   object   teaching, 
634. 

your,  to  be  considered,  880. 
May,  Eobert,  1013. 
Meath  hospital,  girl  in,  1099. 
Meet,  we  shall  at  last,  1030. 
Meetings  for  children,  698. 
Members  and  schools,  531. 
Method  in  a  nutshell,  385. 

no,  389. 

the  combined,  388. 
Methods  to  be  varied,  386,  387. 
Middle  ages  and  S.  S.,  5. 
Milan,  7—11. 

Milton's  view  of  childhood,  142. 
Minister  and  children,  128,  129. 

and  teacher,  300—304. 
Ministerial  duty.  111,  118. 
Ministers,  a  word  to,  119. 

responsibility,  706. 
Ministry,  S.  S.  effect  on,  1010. 
Mission,  canvassing,  867. 


Missions,  caution,  932. 

children  to   be  instructed, 
933,  934. 

details  of  work,  866,  871. 

effect  on  future,  939. 

experiment,  864,  865. 

first  lessons  in,  873,  874. 

how  to  form  one,  863,  873, 
874. 

importance  of,  862. 

in  large  cities,  871. 

juvenile  collectors,  943. 

monthly  missionary  meet- 
Lug,  933. 

personal  effort,  868. 

scholar,  dying,  1100. 

schools,  861—874. 

supported,  1051. 
3fissions  to  heathen,  932—943. 

work    of   union,   861,   809, 
870. 
Mistake  of  churches,  103,  106. 

of  parents,  143. 

of  teachers,  475. 
Missionaries  from  S.  S.,  1012. 
Monod,  Pastor,  60. 
Moral  benefit  of  S.  S.,  92. 

of  a  lesson,  401. 
Morality  improved,  1124. 
Morals,  public  and  S.  S.,  153. 
Moravian  revival,  681. 
Morrison,  Dr.,  1015. 
Mother,  a,  taught,  1065, 
Motives  for  classes,  559. 
Motto,  a  wise  one,  287. 
Monday,  Eev.  G.,  1007. 

National  morality,  80. 
Nature  of  children,  966. 
Nazareth,  S.  S.  m,  62. 
Need  of  prayer,  314—316. 
Neighbourhood  altered,  1125. 
Neuchatel  scholar,  1040. 
Never  too  old  to  learn,  526. 
New  leaf,  turning  over,  1080. 

York  conference,  101 8. 

York  S.  S.'s,  67,  68,  69,  70. 
Newcastle,  1001. 
News  from  far  country,  1034. 

from  home,  1136. 
Newton,  Eev.  J.,  36. 
Nismes,  684. 
No  method,  389. 
North  of  England,  1021. 
Nottingham  S.  S.  Union,  46. 
Number  and  classification,  564. 
Nursery,  S.  S.  a,  95,  97. 

Object,  chief,  of  S.  S.,  85—87. 

of  unions,  855. 
Object  lessons,  647 — 652. 
Obstacles  overcome,  976. 
Object  teaching,  631 — 658. 

an  old  method,  641. 

attention,  637,  638. 

attractive  power  of,  636. 

Bible  objects,  639,  641. 

essay  on,  633. 

examples  of,  643 — 646. 

described,  632. 

historical  sketch,  631. 


Object  teaching,  material    for 
infants,  634. 

objects  and    illustrations. 
642. 

teaching  by  the  eye,  635. 

scholars'  meetings,  944, 94 
Objects  ofS.  S.'s,  78—93. 
Ordering  books,  834. 
Odilo,  Abbot  of  Clunj^  503. 
Office  of  librarian,  775. 
Old  books,  791. 

man's  experience,  1120. 

scholars,  282. 
Older  scholars,  525—533. 

retaining,  525. 
One  Sunday-school,  1113. 
Opening  and  closing,  723 — 725. 
Opinions  on  rewards,  293 — 297. 
Order  in  class,  384. 

in  school,  241,  243, 244,  249. 
Organisation,  156 — 182. 

excessive,  156. 

S.  S.  an,  191. 
Organising  a  S.  S.  192. 
Oriental  S.  S.'s,  62. 
Origen,  4. 
Origin  of  S.  S.,  3, 
Oi-phans,  1060. 
Oxford,  Bp.  of,  47. 

student,  1022. 
Outlines  of  sermons,  &c.,  751— ^ 
772. 

Paid  teachers,  18,  26,  27. 
Pains  and  gains,  491. 
Parental  co-operation,  140. 

duty  not  transferred,  141, 
142. 

fidelity,  479. 

mistake  of,  143. 

piety,  1137. 
Parents  and  S.  S..  478. 

conversion,  518. 

mistakes,  143. 

place  supplied  by  S.  S.,  139 

thoughtlessness,  144. 
Parents  illations  to  S.  S.,  139 — 

147. 
Pastoral  Biographies,  1016. 

duty,  111,  112. 

work  in  S.  S.,  remunera- 
tive, 114. 

oversight,  126,  133, 136,  138. 
Pastors,  past  and  present,  113. 
Pastors,  relation  of  S,  S.  to.  111 — • 
138. 

responsibility,  115,  136. 

should  lead,  125,  129,  132. 

testimony,  1114. 

visitmg  the  S.  S.,  131. 
Paul  the  Hermit,  503. 
Payson,  saying  of,  322. 

success,  116. 
Penetration  of  Children,  544. 
Peevishness,  377. 
Pennsylvania,  65,  682. 
Pensioner,  an  old,  1028. 
Personal  effort,  868. 
Pestalozzi,  658. 
Pictorial  power,  428,  430. 
Pictorial  teaching,  653 — 658. 


GENERAL    INDEX. 


37 


Piety    deepened    by   teaching, 
10S6. 

of  teacher,  309—313. 
Pilgrim  fathers,  65. 
Pious  boy,  514. 

parents,  144. 

sweep,  1042. 
Phoebe  Bartlett,  4S3. 
Physical  comfort  m  S.  S.,  177 — 

182. 
Phiiip,  Eev.  Dr.,  1003. 
Plainness,  742. 
Plan  for  children's  services,  685. 

of  study,  367. 
Plans,  various,  157,  625,  626. 
Plea  for  children's  services,  693, 

695. 
Pleasant  and  profitable,  715. 
Polvcarp,  503. 
Points,  settled,  285. 
Popular  view  of  S.  S.,  529. 
Porteus,  bishop,  36. 
Possible  fruit,  522. 
Post  office,  918. 

Power  of  illustrative  teaching; 
432. 

of  library,  780,  784,  785. 
Practical  study,  350. 
Practice  meetings,  909. 
Prayer  in  the  S.  !i.,  726—733. 
Praj^er,  need  of,  314 — 316. 

key  to,  317. 
Prepared  lists  of  books,  836. 
Proceedings,  union    meetings, 

858,  859. 
Frayer  meetings,  891 — 896. 

chUdren's,  894—896, 

early  morning,  893. 

teachers',  891. 

youths',  892, 
Prayerless  father,  1069. 
Praying  apprentice,  509. 

for  success,  984. 
Preacher,  aided  by  S.  S.,  995. 
Preaching,  scriptural,  716. 

to  children,  127,  130,  135, 
137,  702,  703,  707—714. 
Prejudice,  a  foohsli,  566. 
Preparation  and  pleasure,  351. 
Preparing  a  lesson,  362 — 364. 
Present  state  of  S.  S.,  47. 
Primitive  church,  and  S.  S.,  4. 
Principles  of  teaching,  seven, 

391 
Profanity,  1046. 
Progressive  character  of  S.  S., 

83. 
Prolixity,  avoid,  406. 
Promptitude,  420,  421. 
Prophets,  schools  of,  673. 
Prosiness,  432. 
Public  morals  and  S.  S.,  153. 

worship  and  scholar,   495, 
496. 
Punctuality  of  scholar,  477. 

of  teacher,  333 — 333. 
Punishments,  298. 

Qualification  of  librarian,  774. 
Queen  and  Eaikes,  23. 
Question  books,  450. 


Question  books  of    questions, 

690. 
Questioning,  art  of,  441,  449, 

in  preaching,  740. 
Quintillian,  remark  of,  395. 

Eaikes,  12,  13,  17, 18,  20,  22—25, 
29,  48,  83,  476,  978, 1088, 1122, 
1136. 
Eandom  shot,  997. 
Earity  of  children's  preachers, 

705. 
Eaise  the  popular  view,  529. 
Eead  good  books,  825. 
Eeaders  form  classes,  826. 
Eeading,  356. 

Bacon  on,  830. 

essay  on,  853. 

Gibbon  on,  827. 

at  home,  851. 

and  S.  S.,  187. 
Eeason  upwards,  453, 
Eecapitulation,  442,  446—448. 
Eecognistng    scholars    out    of 

school,  466. 
Eecord  on  high,  965. 
Eeed,  Charles,  M.P.,  23. 

on  prayer,  317. 

the  greatest  want,  951. 
Relation  of  S.  S.  to  church,  94 — 

110. 
Relation  of  S.  S.  to  parents,  139 

—147. 
Relation  of  S.  S.  to  pastors,  111 

— 133. 
Eeference  Bibles,  422. 
Eeform  of  manners,  1109. 
Belief  of  distressed,  1127. 
Eehgious  education,  81. 

experience  of  child,  502. 

pm-pose  of  S.  S.,  84. 
Remark  of  dj-ing  child,  1132. 
Eemember  the  end,  372. 

things  to,  307. 
Eemunerative  work  for  pastors 

in  S.  S.,  114—116. 
Eeplies,  awkward,  172 — 175. 
Eeproof,  a  boy's,  1078,  1079. 

timely,  1048. 
Eesolution  for  new  year,  524. 
Eesolve,  a  scholar's,  512. 
Eespect  teachers,  540. 
Eesponsibility  of  ministers,  706 . 

of  pastors,  115. 
Eesults,  317,  718,  1117. 
Results  collateral,  184—190. 
Results  direct  of  S.  S.,  150—155. 

general,  of  S.  S.,  190. 

the  first,  21, 

unforeseen,  973. 
Eetatning    old    scholars,    525, 

532. 
Eeverence,  742. 
Eeviewing,  443 — 445. 
Eeward  of  earnestness,  993. 

opinions  on,  293 — 297. 
Eich  and  poor,  565. 

childa-en  of,  in  S.  S.,  71— 7G. 
Eichmond,  Legh,  974. 

Eev,  L.  43. 
Eight  to  desire  fruit,  969. 


Eivalry,  none  between  parent 

andS.  S.,  146,  147. 
Eomish  zeal  stimulated,  680. 
Eooms,  177—183. 
Eules,  160,  161,  163. 
for  teachers,  308. 

S.  S.  aids  the  parent,  146,  147. 

guards  the  Sabbath,  150 — 
152. 

public  morals,  153 — 155. 

literature,  188,  189. 

supplies  place  of  parent,  139. 
Sabbath  and  S.  S.,  1072. 

guarded  by  S.  S.,  150—152. 
Sabbath  keeping,  1072. 
Sailor,  1027. 
Salvation  of  child,  85. 

of  country,  and  S,  S.,  lo5. 
Sanderson,  Bp.,  on  prayer,  314. 
Savings'  bank,  923. 
Saying  of  heathen,  999. 
School  for  rich  and  poor,  llOi, 

increase  of,  268,  269, 
Schools  of  prophets,  673. 
Scholar  and  public  worship,  495, 
496. 

and  teacher,  305. 

attendance,  477. 

cnckioard,  545 — 557. 

blind,  510. 

classification  of  558 — 566. 

conversion  of  480 — 489. 

early  piety, '^^7. 

flrst-rate,  507. 

home  relations,  476 — 479. 

in  training,  490 — 496, 

older,  525—533. 

pious,  507 — 524. 

refractory.  551. 

resolve,  511, 

suppcrtmg  the  S.  S.,  150. 

the  careless,  547. 

the  lazy,  549. 

the  mischievious,  550. 

the  missing,  566,  567. 

the  missing,  556 — 566. 

the  precocious,  548. 

the  rebellious,  546. 

three -year-old,  517. 

treatment  of,  534 — 544, 

who  does  not  learn,  545, 

wilful,  552. 
Scholars'  aim,  508. 

appreciation,  542. 

become  teachers,  1112. 

out  of  school,  466. 

to  be  trusted,  379. 

imconverted,  90. 
Scotland,  S.  schools  in,  48. 

education  in,  50. 
Scripture  illustrations,  983. 
Seating  children,  734. 
Secretary,  277—282. 

qualifications,  277. 

duties,  278—281. 
Secret,  the,  work,  1041. 
Secure  affection,  539. 
Securing  attention,  637, 
Seriousness,  374,  375. 
Seed  time,  494. 


438 


GENERAL    INDEX. 


Self-denial,!  045. 
Senior  classes,  164. 

classes,  950—960. 
Separate  rooms,  530, 

services,  689—696. 
Sermons  to  children,  702. 
Settled  points,  285. 
Seven  principles    of  teacliing, 

391. 
Sballow  teacher,  470. 
Shechem,  S.  S.  in,  62. 
Sheffield  scholar,  1026. 

scholars,  1103. 
Shop  closed,  1081. 
Sibbes,  Richard,  974, 
Sign,  a  good  one,  504. 
Signs  of  early  piety,  500. 
Simplicity  in  teaching,  393 — 396, 
C19— 621,  746—749. 

an  aged  minister's,  123. 
Simultaneous  teaching,  400. 
Simultaneous  teaching,  288. 
Singing,  897. 

a  spiritual  gain,  915. 

all  may  learn,  902. 

children  like,  899. 

chorister,  912,  913. 

good  tunes  and  words,  903. 

importance  of,  897 — 914. 

improvements  in,  901,  904. 

infants,  907. 

new  tunes,  910. 

old  tunes,  917. 

opportunities,  916. 

practice,  909, 

S.  S.  music,  898. 

superintendent,  911. 

teaching,  90S. 

time  foi-,  906. 

utility  of,  900. 

Wesley  on,  905. 
Sixty-two  years  in  S.  S.,  992. 
Smuggling,  1058. 
Smyrna,  S.  S.  m,  62. 
Social  change,  1121,  1122,  1124, 
1125. 

class  meetings,  949. 

destinctions,  71 — 76. 

influences,  563 — 566. 

prejudices,  566. 
Society,  S.  S.  origin  of,  3S. 
Soldier's  teacher,  1118. 
Source  of  illustration,  433,  434. 
South,  Dr.,  sayings  of,  395. 
Southey,  anecdote  of,  356. 
Speaking  loud,  381. 
Special  preparation,  349. 
Spectacles,  S.  S.,  369. 
Stationary  teachers,  343. 
Statistics,  27,  30,  45,  47,  58-60, 

69,  70,  77. 
Stockport,  S.  S.,  27,  30,  44,  45. 
Stoughton  on  S.  S.  in  Milan,  10. 
Stow,  David,  979. 
Strike  the  iron  when  hot,  421. 
Stubbornness  overcome,  977. 
Students,  1017. 

Camlridge,  1023. 

Oxford,  1022. 
Study  and  knowledge,  355; 

demanded,  359. 


Study  and  knowledge,  plan  of, 
367. 

practical,  350. 

too  little,  346,  347. 

successful  teachers,  371. 

your  scholars,  369,  370. 
Subject  for  union  meetings,  859. 
Subjects,    teachers'    meetings, 
28  i. 

of  Payson,  116. 
Success  prayed  for,  984. 

wonderful,  986. 
Successful  experiment,  864,  865. 
Simday-school,  what  is  it,  88,  89. 
Sustentation  of  S.  S.,  148,  149. 
Surrey  Chapel  S.  S.,  39,  40. 
Superintendent,  anecessity,  195. 

a  ruler,  205. 

a  teacher,  and  more,  204. 

administration,  213,  264. 

always  present,  260. 

at  teachers'    meeting,  253, 
254. 

common  defects,  271. 

consequentialness,  273. 

despatch  of  business,  212. 

disqualifications,  270 — 270. 

duties,  233—241. 

education,  220,  223. 

election,  202,  203. 

enforces  law,  240. 

essential  qualification,  208. 

executive  abilitj^,  210,  211. 

fidgetiness,  275. 

firmness,  216,  217,  265—267. 

getting  a  good  one,  196. 

heaviness,  274. 

hints  for,  235. 

his  influence,  198,  199,  238. 

his  register,  286. 

hobbies,  276. 

humility,  218. 

impartiality,  252. 

tnfalhble  receipt,  248. 

management,  201. 

manner,  245. 

no  fixed  model,  197. 

noisy,  247. 

not  to  teach,  236. 

obeys  law,  239. 

observation,  226,  227. 

order,  243,  244,  246,  249. 

penetration,  228. 

piety,  214,  215. 

points  of  character,  209. 

qualifications,  203 — 207. 

relation   to    teachers,  250 — 
269. 

respect  teachers,  250. 

Sabbath  duties,  233. 

school  duties,  237. 

selection  of,  200. 

self-possession,  242,  251. 

singer,  229. 

slovenlmess,  272. 

social  position,  220. 

Special    qualification,    207, 
911. 

speech,  230,  231. 

successful,  206. 

summary  of  duty,  241, 


Superintendent,  tact,  224,  225. 

temper,  219,  222, 

week  day  duties,  234. 

what  he  should  be  207. 

zeal,  221. 
Superintendent  and  Sec.191 — 29S 
Swearer's  prayer,  1057. 
.Sweep,  the  pious,  1042. 
Sydney  the  scholar,  1039. 
Sympathy,  322. 

the  churches,  108,  109. 
SjTiipathizer,  an  odd,  176. 
Syucletica,  503. 

Tact,  341. 

Take  hold  and  lift,  10?. 

nothing  for  granted,  397— 
399. 
Teach  me  to  pray,  1049. 

respect,  537. 

studious  habits,  538. 
Teacher  and  conscience,  1033. 

assisted,  1059. 

learning  from  best,  50G. 

of  infants,  595—611. 
See  under  Infant-class. 
Teacher  visiting,  458 — 467. 

administer,  300 — 304. 

and  scholar,  305. 

attendance,  339. 

aptness,  340. 

conversion,  328. 

covenant,  306. 

mistakes,  475. 

piety,  309—313. 

portrait  gallery,  468 — 475. 

punctuality,  333 — 338. 

stationary,  343. 

tact,  341. 

things  to  remember,  307. 

unconverted,  329 — 332. 
Teachers  and  superintendent,  250 

—269. 
Teachers'  private  library,  810 — 

815. 
Teachers,  advantages,  884. 

cause  of  failure,  883. 

conductor,  885. 

converted,  1089—1097. 

election  of,  262,  263. 

how  conducted,  886. 

improvement  meetings,  882 . 

manner  in  class,  373 — 3S3. 

meetings,  284. 

meetings,  253,  254. 

method  in  class,  384 — 457. 

practice  lessons,  889. 
p)reparation,  342 — 372. 

qualifications,  309 — 341. 

reciprocal  duty  of,  255. 

relations,  299—308. 

remembered,  1035. 

subjects  for,  890. 

support  superintendent,256, 
257,  258. 

things  needful,  887,  888. 

weekly,  SS2fi> 

work,  1031. 
Teaching,  an  art,  353. 

and  knowing,  344. 

and  preaching,  456. 


GENERAL   INDEX. 


439 


Teachers  and  training,  402. 

Unconverted  teachers,329— 332. 

Visiting,  success,  881. 

by  the  eye,  635. 

scholars,  90. 

the  S.  S.,  131. 

example  of,  360. 

Unestimated  results,  1117. 

visitor,  875. 

singing,  908. 

Unforeseen  resiilts,  97-3. 

Voluntary  teachers,  29—34. 

Temperance  societies,  919 — 922. 

Uniform  lesson,   165,   166,   288 

Terms  higher  and  lower,  609. 

—292, 

Waldenses,  677. 

Tertollian,  4. 

Union,  germ  of  the,  36. 

Want,  a  great,  342. 

Testimony  of  child,  523, 

first  public  meeting,  43. 

a  great  one  met  by  S.  S., 

of  pastor,  1114. 

London  S.  S.,  189. 

82. 

Thewald  and  Coleridge,  78. 

members,  42. 

"Way  to  work  a  mission  S.  S.. 

Theodoret,  503. 

Mission  School,  869,  871, 

872. 

Theodosius,  503. 

objects,  41. 

"Wales,  and  S.  schools,"  51 — 55. 

Thickens,  Eev.  B.,  23. 

of  New  York,  67—70. 

"We  belongs  to  you,  319, 

Things  agreed  upon,  283. 

S.  S.  of  London,  origin,  40. 

shall  meet  at  last,  1030. 

needful  in  a  lesson,  392. 

Various  plans,  625. 

"Webster,  Daniel,  155. 

to  remember,  307. 

wanted,  35. 

"Wesley,  on  singing,  905. 

to  be  avoided,  555. 

Unions  and  institutes,  854 — 861 . 

Rev.  J.,  33. 

Thorough  knowledge,  354. 

provincial,  46. 

"Wesleyan  schools,  528. 

Thought  excited,  996. 

utihty  of,  854. 

"Western  advocacy  of  children's 

needed,  158. 

Unity  of  purpose,  159. 

services,  638. 

Thoughtless  parents,  1064. 

Unnoticed  differences,  557. 

"West  Indian  S.  schools,  63. 

Three  essentials,  741. 

Unsound  books,  788. 

"Whately,  Dr.,  saying  of,  418. 

examples,  513. 

Untried  plan,  library,  805. 

"Whitchurch  scholar,  1133. 

year-old,  517. 

Use  of  eyes,  368. 

"Widow  comforted,  1070. 

TiUotson,  anecdote  of,  395, 

Useless  knowledge.  171. 

Windsor  S.  S.,  23. 

Timely  reproof,  1048. 

UtUity  of  Unions,  854. 

WUberforce,  Bishop,  47. 

Timidity  overcome,  982. 

William,  974. 

Todd  on  education,  80. 

Value  of  training,  348. 

Window  in  heaven, 

Todd  to  ministers,  120. 

Vanderkiste's  narrative,  399. 

Winning  hearts,  467. 

Too  few  conversions,  484. 

Various  results,  llOS— 1141. 

Wise  motto,  287. 

large  libraries,  795,  797. 

abuse  of,  860. 

Wish  of  boy,  519. 

little  study,  346,  347. 

objects  of,  855. 

Wonderful  success,  986. 

Townley,  Col.,  21,  22. 

proceedings,  858. 

Word  to  ministers,  119. 

Tract  society,  185. 

settled  points,  856,  857. 

Working  on  Sunday,  1082. 

Tracts,  1050. 

subjects  for  meetings,  859. 

Work  for  Christ  not  lost,  964. 

Train  the  conscience,  409. 

Vary  methods,  336. 

of  teacher,  299. 

Training   for    higher    service, 

Venn  ondocti-inal  teaching, 407. 

to  be  loved,  321. 

1082. 

Veronica,  503. 

Worship,  children's  part  in,  697* 

value  of,  348,  352. 

Victor  Cousin,  81. 

Worst,  to  be  loved,  321. 

Treasurer,  194. 

Vincent,  Eev.  J.  H.,  94. 

Worthy  of  imitation,  607. 

Treatment  of  scholars,  534 — 544. 

Vinet,  503. 

by  superintendent,  534. 

Virginia,  66. 

Yoke-feUow,  1,  23. 

Trust  vour  scholars,  379. 

Visiting,  875—881. 

York  congress,  1008. 

Truthfulness,  1043. 

attendance,  878. 

Youthful  conversions,  1037. 

Tunes  and  words,  903. 

confidence  of  scholar,  877. 

resolve,  524. 

Turning  new  leaf,  1080. 

frequent,  879. 

Two  ladies  of  Philadelphia,  990. 

gains  the  heart,  876. 

Young  martyr,  1075. 

Tyng's  view  of  S.  S.  work,  117, 

scholars,  458—465,  566,  567. 

134 

social,  880. 

Zinzendorf,  681. 

ELLIOT  SrOCK,  62,  PATERNOSTER  RO^y,  LONDON. 


Date  Due                         1 

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